Week in Review 9.20.15

This week in my life:


School Days

School keeps going on.  We are finding our groove pretty well.  They all love math thanks to Right Start Math!

Here is my goofy daughter putting on her "nerd" glasses while we are doing some math.

This preschooler is everywhere when we do school.  Here she is "hiding" up on her sister's bed with a bunch of stuffed animals.

Piano lessons are still going well.  Although this kid keeps begging me to drums instead of piano  . . .

I mean these two are just the life of the party - if that party doesn't involve other people and if that party is at home.  Introverts unite separately in your own homes.

We also had to purge some things and clean out the boys room.  Do you spot the child?  He's under the bed getting toys out from there so we can organize it or get rid of it!

 Life Stuff



It was this guy's birthday this week!  This a picture from around the time we were dating.  He so loved that jeep.  Happy birthday to my sweet husband!!

My friend and I got together and made paleo pizza crust.  It was a fun night!  And we wore aprons.  We were so domestic.

I crafted.  Say what?  I haven't gotten crafty in so long.  But I saw this tutorial on Facebook and made us one.

This kids smile just lights up my world.  He said, "Good thing you can see my smile anytime you want since you are home with  me."  Yep, that is true buddy!
 

This girl is all about helping.  Here she is doing her own pizza.

We made applesauce tonight from some free apples that we got from my husband's co-worker.  You just can't let free apples go to waste.

We also went for our first homeschool art lesson this week but I forgot to take any pictures.  I hope you all have a good week too!

Week in Review 9.5.15

Its been a while since I've done one of these.  I used to enjoy doing them.  Hopefully I'll have more time to do them now that my real estate stuff is settling down.  If you don't know I am a Realtor on the side which was suppose to be part time but has been pretty full time all summer.  You do just kind of have to take it when it comes though.

We are settling into our school routine nicely.  I've learned from a few years of experience to start three or more weeks early with easing into a routine and maybe one to two subjects  So doing that helped make this first full week go smoothly!  I actually did not get to science this week but that was the only thing we missed.  So we are starting that next week.  We are starting piano lessons too which we haven't done before.


Preschooler!  

This girl is just everywhere, doing everything and into everything!  So we aren't doing anything formal.  I'm just trying to keep up with her. 

 I have this set that I bought second hand from the Critical Thinking Co. and I'll do a little here and there when she's willing.  Otherwise she listens to us and plays.

 6 year old 

This kid is much more willing to do school so far this year than he was last year.  He even says he likes it (what?).  I mean its only the first week but here's hoping that it is a sign of good things to come.

We are giving All About Reading another try.  We did it for a while last year but he was NOT into it.  This year seems to be going much better although he doesn't really want to do the practice sheets.  He definitely enjoys the games though.

He wanted to do school in his army hat - silly kid.

 (Almost) 8 year old

We found out last spring that this girl is our second dyslexic in our house.  She is so smart yet so different from her brother who is also dyslexic.  She is very willing to learn and very willing to try.

Her favorite subject is math.  And I know why!  Because we use Right Start Math.  She has been to Montessori school and she loves to learn with her hands.  Right Start is the best at that if you don't do Montessori.  Here she is doing the Cotter Tens Fractal.  She was so proud of doing this.  She did it last year with her brother but this year it was all her.  This helps her understand the place value system.  I can't say enough good things about Right Start Math.

 We are using All About Spelling again this year.  I stopped last year because she could not get past th, sh, ch and that is when I had her screened for dyslexia.  I started her again and we started a few lessons back.  We worked on th, sh and ch for months so I think she can get through this level this time.

We do a great book called Toe By Toe (I do it with both my dyslexics).  It is simple and inexpensive but IT WORKS!  We are doing this until we can get her into Orton Gillingham tutor and will still do it on our non-tutoring days.

10 year old

This kid - it took me 20 times to get this picture. 

This year is so much better than any other.  His reading is SO MUCH better and he is able to do so many things more independently than he has done in the past.  But we have really been working on that.  He is just willing to get things done.   I know so many moms don't do any technology during school but we do.  If he gets a certain number of things done he can have a "techno break" as he calls it and I have no problem pulling him away because he knows certain things needs to be done.  He's just a pretty good kid.

I picked my curriculum so that they can do several things independently and I would only have to teach two subjects per kids since I'm teaching three at home now, two of which are dyslexic.  We also do Orton Gillingham tutoring twice a week at our local Scottish Rite Cathedral.  My daughter is on the waiting list but my son is on his second year of it.  We are so thankful for this because it is free!

We had a full week but it was a good week.  I managed to squeeze in a house closing.  We went to a housewarming party and a family reunion.  I was able to walk 4 miles with my friend almost everyday this week.  That is my exercise and my sanity!  Hopefully we will get that much done next week!

How was your week????

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Classical Home Education and the dyslexic child

I read the Well Trained Mind a long time ago like when my oldest was about 2.  I wanted to do that.  I wanted to educate my children classicly at home.  Until my oldest hated reading and writing and was diagnosed with dyslexia.   I put those thoughts away because I really thought it wasn't possible.

And then a friend told me about Classical Conversations and I looked into it again.  I even tried 5 weeks of CC at home to see if it would work for us.  I went to visit a CC open house.  If you don't know what Classical Conversations is click here.


I liked a lot of things about it and found that it could possible work for dyslexics but I knew it wouldn't work for us.

But it peaked my interest in classical education again and I checked out the Well Trained Mind from the library and started to re-read it.  I found that reading it this time around - the things they talk about are doable with us.  Even with a kid who doesn't like to read and who hates writing.  It is actually painful for him to write so I understand it.

So he couldn't read a lot of books on his own but I could read books aloud to him and to the rest of the kids.  We have tried read alouds so many times and I have failed with them so many times!  This time I lowered my expectations.  This time I don't "have" to finish a chapter.  This time I make it more enjoyable.  I allow a little bit of craziness as long as it is quiet craziness and they can retain something.

And narrations - and notebooking - I love them now.  I thought I couldn't use them because he couldn't write well and he can't draw well either.  But I can write it for him. He learns so much from listening.  He could tell me about two pages in 5 minutes but I can't write that fast. 

Memorizing was another question I had because it can take him a long time to memorize things but once it does - it sticks!  But you don't just have to memorize boring facts - you can memorize poems, Bible verses, and yes even boring facts in a non-boring way - like to music!

I'll be talking more soon about how I make classical homeschooling work for a dyslexic child and the rest of us soon.  We aren't strictly classical though and I would probably consider us a little more eclectic.  We are always learning what works for us.

 

This time last year . . . An Update since our dyslexia diagnosis

This time last year we were awaiting results from testing that we just did with our then 7 year old son.  We did the testing but we had to wait about a month for report.  She confirmed what we already knew but now we had a professional saying it and not just me.


Of course since the state of Indiana doesn't recognize dyslexia as a learning disability I knew that we would be in for a fight if we stayed in the public school system (even though we were at a charter school it was still a public school).  I had seen people that told me they had been fighting for 12 years.  I didn't want to fight that long.  So we pulled him out and just homeschooled him.



We soon found it was EXPENSIVE to be dyslexic.  The first thing you find out is that dyselxics do very well with Orton Gillingham tutoring.  OG tutoring is costly - worth it yes but costly.  I did lots of research and started out with Barton - also expensive but I could at least do it and not have to find someone to pay $200 to a month.



Then I read a blog - thank you Lord!  She lived in England and told about how her dyslexic son was doing well reading after using a book called Toe By Toe.



I read the reviews on Amazon and went for it.  It was $40 with shipping so I didn't have a lot to loose.



We are almost half way through Toe by Toe and the difference is incredible. I was at the library the other night and a mom was helping me and she grabbed some readers to try with him because I wasn't sure what book level he was.  I don't force him to read certain readers yet until his reading improved.

We picked up these readers and he read the first one then the second one with no problem so I grabbed the number 10 book and he read that with no problem.  Then I got the second set and he is reading those with no problem so today I tested him online and he has jumped a whole grade level in reading and we are only half way through!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I shout halleluiah from the roof tops??????????????????

Slow and steady wins the race my friends - every.single.time.

Don't rush it.  Keep at it.  Slow it down.  Do NOT get frustrated.  Keep working with them.  Back off when you need to.  Love on them.  Encourage them.  Praise them.

We are a work in progress but we are in progress.  We aren't finished - not by a long shot.

Could I have more cliques in this post?

Anyway,  this is where we are today.  By summer - who knows where we will be.

Truly, this is a blessing and I'm so thankful the Lord gave me this child at this time.   It has changed my perspective on everything.




 

I stepped back

We have had a little of a rough week in school.  I messed up.  We were doing math.  I started him in lower math so that he would build his confidence and it has worked and he flies through math most of the time.

This week they were teaching a concept he already knew but they were teaching it in a different way.  So I made him do it that way.  Math that takes us maybe 20 minutes took us 90 minutes for two days.

It was reminiscent of the days before I knew what I was dealing with - the days before the dyslexia diagnosis.

After the second day of this I finally let him finish the back side of the paper how he knew (because a friend encouraged me to).  He was done in about 6 minutes or less.

Today I let him do the same thing but I was standing over him and we got to the last problem - a word problem.

I read it to him as I often do and I saw the wheels turning in his head.  I started to jump in and say "Write that down.  It's too big of a problem for you to do in your head.  You won't get it right if you don't write it down."

But I stopped myself.

I waited.  And in a few seconds he told me the correct answer.  To my astonishment, because it was a multiple digit problem that he did in his head.

He was proud.  I was proud.  I didn't jump up and down because I didn't want him to know I didn't think he could do it.

He did it.  He can do it.  I just have to step back and let him try.


 

Our Journey with Dyslexia Part II - Amazing things are happening

Here is where the story takes an interesting turn and really gets good.  I want to write this all down so that I will remember God's incredible grace through this journey and the things he brought into our lives.  We were in the middle of my son's second grade year.  I was still doing the hybrid public charter school but we were so frustrated.  I had my suspicions for a while that he might be dyslexic but his little school did not do testing so I went to my pediatrician and she suggested I start with behavioral health testing.

I did that.  We went and he was tested and I had to wait a month to get the results back!!!  I was naive and didn't realize they did not do dyslexia testing there.  When I went in for the results the doctor gave me the report and talked me through it.  She told me she was giving me a preliminary diagnosis of ADHD but here is the kicker - she did not believe he had ADHD!  He registered right on the border of possibly having it.

So basically I got no answers except that she would refer me to occupational therapy to help him with his fine motor skills (writing and such).  I was fine with that because his writing was still atrocious and he was still having trouble tying his shoes well.  But I was at a loss as to where to go about dyslexia testing.

We started occupational therapy after being on a waiting list.  I looked into the Dyslexia Institute of Indiana but it was about $1600 to get tested - having dyslexia is expensive.  We just couldn't do that right now so I was praying and trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do.

Then comes January and I get a message that would change everything for me.  An acquaintance messaged me on Facebook.  How I know this lady is a story in and of itself but I'll tell you about that later.  She just said that she saw on my Facebook that I homeschooled and wondered if we could get together and talk.

We finally meet up and start talking and she tells me about her daughter (a year old than my son) and how she is - wait for it - dyslexic!  Up until now we had not discussed this with anyone. I didn't know who to talk to so my husband and I just kept it to ourselves mostly.

Can you believe this?  She goes on to tell me how she had her daughter tested at this school that deals with dyslexic kids which is about 45 minutes south of us.  They only charge $149.  Since she was able to get the diagnosis she was able to get her daughter tutoring from DII (Dyslexia Institute of Indiana) for a decent price.

I honestly wanted to shout from the rooftops because God had literally laid a solution in my lap.  I called the school to make an appointment but it would be a few months before I find out anything and in the meantime God just kept doing these amazing things for us.

More to come  . . .

More posts about dyslexia: 

Part I

I might have never known

I Relax