Personal Notes, Pajama School, Advice for Dyslexia
By Heather Idoni
Added Thursday, May 21, 2009
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The Homeschooler's Notebook
Encouragement and Advice for Homeschool Families
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Vol. 10 No 38 May 21, 2009
ISSN: 1536-2035
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Copyright (c) 2009 - Heather Idoni, FamilyClassroom.net
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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Notes from Heather
-- Personal Notes
Helpful Tip
-- Notebooking Pages
Resource Review
-- Pajama School
Winning Website
-- The Phonics Page
Reader Question
-- Advice for Dyslexia
Additional Notes
-- Newsletter Archives
-- Sponsorship Information
-- Reprint Information
-- Subscriber Information
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Notes from Heather
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I apologize for missing the last 2 issues of our Notebook!
To those who wrote to me to make sure I was okay -- THANK YOU for
caring enough to write. The "news" is that my husband was in the
recent batch of engineers to be laid off from General Motors -- right
before they began cutting Pontiac and the dealerships. We believe
it was God's timing (he is going into nursing and needed to begin
clinicals in the fall), but it is still a pretty big adjustment
for our whole family. I would appreciate your prayers as things
here in Michigan seem to be getting only worse! Many friends
are in the same situation, so it will be difficult to help each
other out. I am thankful we are not in immediate danger of losing
our home as so many others are... and already have.
Anyway -- I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and just didn't have
it in me to keep my usual pace. I might slack off a bit here
and there with my 2-issue-per-week schedule -- so I hope you will
understand and adapt with me! I will focus mostly on making sure
the content is great -- quality vs. quantity? :-)
Thanks for your patience.
-- Heather
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Do you have comments to share? Please do!
Send your emails to: mailto:heather@familyclassroom.net
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Helpful Tip
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"I wanted to add a quick endorsement about Notebooking pages. I
use them almost every day homeschooling my boy. For reluctant
writers, or kids who like a more creative approach to school, the
notebooking pages are an excellent tool. Debra has a great variety
of resources for any subject matter and a bunch of freebies on her
site, too. Her sale is the perfect time to check them out without
investing a lot of money." -- Sue, HomeschoolingBOYS.com member
http://notebookingpages.com/store/affiliates/npc.php?id=1043_1_tlid_1
---
Do you have an idea, experience, or tip to share? Please write!
Send to: mailto:HN-ideas@familyclassroom.net
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Resource Review
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Pajama School
Author: Natalie Wickham
For more information or to order: www.pajamaschool.com
I love talking to other homeschool families to find out what life
is like at their house, why they homeschool, what curriculums they
use, their kids' hobbies, etc. In her first, self-published book,
homeschool graduate Natalie Wickham gives readers a glimpse at
homeschooling through the eyes of the student, sharing both the
ups and downs of living in a family that learns and grows together.
Using her own recollections and occasional journal entries, Natalie
shares how her parents came to the decision to homeschool their
daughters -- and then allows us to grow with her as she takes us
from the elementary years through her post-homeschool experiences.
'Pajama School' is really more about family, relationships, and
faith in God, than it is about how-to homeschool. This is really
the candid tale of one family's growing together, and how the
homeschool lifestyle allowed them to be there for each other through
thick and thin.
Natalie is an accomplished pianist, and has a contagious enthusiasm
about homeschooling, family, serving others, and of course, loving
God. It is so refreshing to read a book about a 'real' family, that
is not only filled with wonderful, precious moments, but also honest
about the very real struggles that we all encounter in family life.
Although her homeschool experience is different than the path we have
chosen, I was encouraged and inspired by how God worked out His plan
for the Wickham family.
-- Cindy Prechtel, http://www.HomeschoolingFromTheHeart.com
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Winning Website
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The Phonics Page
http://www.thephonicspage.org
With money tight everywhere, I was excited to find this site, which
can be used to teach your child to read for free! The lessons are
primarily phonics drills. You will need to sit with your child to
be sure they are ready to move on to the next lesson. The site's
producer recommends use of Webster's Syllabary, and provides it for
download. These are not fancy videos (no flashy graphics or song
and dance), but the voice on the video (you don't see a person; you
see the letters and words that are being taught that lesson) is very
pleasant. Throughout the phonics lessons the teacher presents
spelling/phonics rules. After completing all the lessons, your child
should have a very firm foundation, and, according to the site's author,
should be able to sound out any word they encounter.
-- Cindy, www.HomeschoolingFromTheHeart.com
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Last Issue's Reader Question
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"My son is 9 years old. He is not an avid reader, but he can read.
His comprehension is good, but he cannot write a complete sentence.
He doesn't seem to be able to spell anything. I have tried different
approaches with him, but none of them seem to work. Nothing sticks!
And when he does write, it's all guesswork. But here's what I don't
understand. I was doing Sequential Spelling, and they repeat the
same words over and over again. They change them just a little.
Yesterday I had him do two lists of spelling words. He could not
remember how to spell a word he had spelled 5 minutes prior!
We don't do well with lists of words to memorize, and I don't think
it would do him much good to memorize specific words, when he can't
write a sentence using even the basic ones. I think he needs a unique
approach -- he's very visual and needs something that will stay in
his brain! Any ideas?" -- Crystal
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Our Readers' Responses
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"Dear Crystal -- I also have a 9 year old son. He was taught to
spell and write using a different system by The Riggs Institute:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VWACGE?ie=UTF8&tag=hsaudio-20
This system teaches WHY words in the English language are spelled
the way they are -- not memorization. This system was originally
used for children with learning disabilities, but the private
Christian school my son attended (he is home schooled now) taught
it to all of the students. It is amazing to watch the children in
K-5 grasp the English language and become proficient readers and
spellers. I would highly recommend this program to anyone with a
child struggling to spell or write -- or to anyone with a child K-5
to 3rd grade. Using this program, my son won 3 spelling bees. When
they get it, they really understand. This program is very different
from anything I have ever seen. It takes us as parents a lot longer
to understand than it does our children, because we didn't learn
this way. Their web site is: www.riggsinst.org " -- Judi L.
---
"Crystal -- I have been homeschooling for a little over a year.
I love to do research -- and the method I am seeing make the most
sense to me is the Charlotte Mason method. She doesn't believe in
doing rote work -- she said it is forgotten more easily. With
that, I am also using SmartMoves/Brain-Gym:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0915556375?ie=UTF8&tag=hsaudio-20
These methods are so simple, but when you understand how the brain
works and how to make it work better, they're wonderful tools!"
-- Heather B.
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"My daughter will be 9 in September, and she has many of the same
'problems' with writing and spelling that you have described. She
can spell many words, but she literally spells them how she sounds
them out. My husband is the same way; he has trouble with expressing
himself in written word.
I have tried several spelling and writing programs, and although she
seems to have improved in expressing thoughts in writing, her spelling
reverts back to guessing. She forgets the lists and rules right after
the lesson. She does not seem to care that her spelling is wrong. We
even tried copywork that Charlotte Mason suggests, and made her redo
the whole thing if she made mistakes. It was a joke -- she was crying
by the end, her hand hurt, and she did not understand what she was
doing wrong! It was like her brain could not see that her words did
not match the words she was copying -- but the ideas matched!
I don't mean to sound like a defeatist, but I have accepted that I
will probably never get her to be 'serious' about her writing until
it is important to her. She can read well above her level, draw
beautifully, is doing long division with ease, but written word is
just not her strong point. I think part of the problem is that when
she writes, her mind is so stressed by forming the letters and words
and expressing her ideas, that spelling is the last thing on her mind.
Her spelling and penmanship get exponentially worse the more writing
I ask of her. So, I have tried to make writing assignments meaningful
to real life situations, and make them sparse. She also is allowed
to type certain assignments on the computer and use spell checker.
There is no magic curriculum that will solve my daughter's problems.
Curriculum is simply a tool to help you, not a cure. I will keep
providing her with tools to help her understand the process and form
of writing, but continue to remain positive and not focus on her seemed
'failure'. She is still young, and I don't want her to get burned out
on writing when there is so much potential for her. There is so much
pressure (even in homeschooling) to have our kids 'excel' that we
forget they are just kids -- and they have time!
The other day, out of the blue, my daughter presented me with a worship
song she had written for me. She even sang it for me; it was such a
beautiful testimony to her love for the Lord! There were misspelled
words, and I could have corrected her, but the expression behind the
words was so much more. I had her type it out and email it to the
grandparents, misspelled words and all. That is what I am looking for
-- not that they can spell perfectly and create boring rote work; but
that they can express their inner self to the world!" -- Aadel in KS
---
"Crystal's boy sounds like my husband. He was labeled dyslexic in
school -- and no matter what they tried with him in the remedial
classes -- his spelling is still atrocious. I can tell him a million
times that 'bed' is not spelled 'bead', but 20 minutes later he will
most likely spell it the old way again. He, too, can read -- and his
comprehension is phenomenal. It takes so very long for him to read
it, but once he does, he's got it forever. He only reads if he has
to or wants to, because it is such a monumental task. He now wants
desperately to read like me, and has asked me to find him help.
I have to wait until his vacation to do the lessons that seem promising,
so I cannot say for certain how this works out, but you were wondering
about a unique approach and I have found one that seems to describe
him and promises good results. I wanted to bring it up now since you
are asking, even though we haven't finished the course. The book is
called 'The Gift of Dyslexia':
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039952293X?ie=UTF8&tag=hsaudio-20
Reading the reviews of the book can give you an idea from people who
completed it and found it successful with their kids or themselves
as adults.
There is a lot of background on the author's theory of dyslexia (This
man was dyslexic, borderline autistic when growing up, and taught
himself to work with his dyslexia in order to read a book for the very
first time in his 30s). His theory is that dyslexic people are picture
spatial thinkers and that kind of thinking is good mechanically and
artistically, but fails when you have to interpret symbols like words.
If the dyslexic doesn't find how to control his 'mind's eye' that works
for other things but doesn't work for reading, they will try all kinds
of approaches that don't work well (the symptoms of dyslexia) and will
struggle with what they come up with their whole life. It kind of
sounds 'out there' if a non-dyslexic person reads it, like I did when
I was reading it for my husband, but there is a test that you do with
the student to see if his or her problem might be fixable by this man's
approach. I did the preliminary test on my husband and he did it with
no problems, whereas I would have had difficulty doing it like he did.
I then explained to him the whole theory behind the man's work and my
husband was amazed that I thought it was weird and that I didn't use a
'mind's eye' to look at things. When we started the program, everything
the man said would happen during the lessons did. We haven't gone very
far because of time constraints, but we both have already been amazed
at how everything this book has told us to do seems to be true for him
and his thinking process.
So -- I don't know if your child has dyslexia, but around age 9 is when
it starts showing up and causing problems, so I thought it might be
good to suggest this book. What is nice is that you don't have to go
to the man's school for a few weeks for $3000+ one-on-one teaching,
because a concerned parent or friend can help do the whole seminar
thing for the cost of the book. He includes the school manual in the
back of the book for free! And if it doesn't work for your kid (because
he might not be dyslexic), you aren't out a lot of money for just a
book and your time. If any of you have a struggling reader/writer at
a young age you might want to check it out and see if it describes your
child -- or even your 40 year old husband!" -- Melissa
---
"You may want to see if a nearby college education dept has testing to
help you identify exactly what the difficulty is. The AVKO spelling
curriculum is considered helpful for dyslexia. If you're a member of
HSLDA, they have some educational experts that may have some ideas as
well. We are using AVKO and find it helpful. My youngest daughter (10)
is using an online curriculum called ClickNKids Phonics that drills
phonics, spelling and reading in a really fun way.
[ ClickNRead Link: http://shareasale.com/r.cfm?B=69815&U=226815&M=11396 ]
Another website we found sells a series of computer drill programs
called 'Learning in a Flash' that is helpful for drilling things in
a fun way. My oldest daughter was helped by a home program called
Learning Connection 'Stepping Stones' program that works on developing
vision and visual memory and was developed by an optometrist and
educator. I'm in the process of reading a book called 'The Gift of
Dyslexia':
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039952293X?ie=UTF8&tag=hsaudio-20
It was written by someone with dyslexia and is the first insight I've
had to what my kids are actually seeing when they read. The author
also has some ideas for therapy that I have not tried yet, but they
sound interesting. None of my kids are good at spelling yet, and
they'll probably have to work at it the rest of their lives, but I
am seeing progress. I've also used Ruth Beechick's idea of copying
sentences from books at younger ages, then taking dication from simple
books -- and then more complicated books -- to improve their writing
skills. I have seen progress from that as well. I have them check
their own work with a red pen, and take off 1 point for each mistake
they find, but 2 points for every mistake I find that they missed,
hoping to improve their editing skills. If you google learning
disabilities or dyslexia, you'll probably find lots of other ideas.
My kids didn't benefit from traditional spelling programs either (like
workbooks, memorizing lists, etc.). AVKO works by taking a simple
word and building on it, as well as using word families, to go in the
brain's 'back door' and let the child figure out as they take the
spelling 'tests' that 'Oh, the last word was *come*, so I bet this
word is spelled the same way but with *be* in front of it. If the
kids make a mistake, I also talk to them about any phonics rules
that may apply.
By the way, my oldest daughter is making As and Bs in the local Jr.
college now, without a dyslexia exemption/handicap, so don't despair
or give up hope! And she was the one with the worst symptoms. Keep
praying for wisdom and help with his education!" -- Debbie in TX
---
"Sounds like my son... and most boys! We do Spelling Power, which
also builds from word to word, but he'll forget from one day to the
next. It's just not that important to him yet. He's also very visual.
The best way we've found is to combine spelling and creative writing.
I'll give him a blank sheet of paper and just ask him to draw something
-- anything. The next day he gets a piece of loose-leaf and is asked
just to write down all about his picture (horrible spelling allowed,
just getting his words out). I will then print it out nicely, asking
him for help when I can't understand the words. The next (and final)
day he copies out the story, in his own writing but with proper
spelling. We then attach them all together and it counts as one
assignment. I figure this will get old sooner or later and he'll
start asking for correct spellings and shorten the process. In the
meantime, he is slowly learning to 'see' when a word looks wrong and
will occasionally self-correct. It can only get better the more he
sees and uses the spellings and edits them. Just keep plugging away!"
-- Liz in BC
---
"You might have your son checked for dyslexia. I have found that the
spelling curriculum, 'If it is to be, it is up to me', is great for
kids with spelling, writing and attention difficulties. Some kids
have a wiring issue where it takes so much effort to just write that
they can't focus on keeping words/sentences in their brains long enough.
All effort goes to the process of getting it (poorly) onto paper. My
son is like this. He's very smart and can memorize anything if you go
over it with him orally. Once he has to write it takes forever to get
a couple of sentences and he's lost the whole thought."
---
"Hi, Crystal -- Try having your child dictate a story into a tape
recorder to be typed up by you. Print them up and have him illustrate
them. Even though your child has difficulty physically writing, you
can still encourage him to create a story. If he has trouble developing
ideas for a story, read the first half of a story to him, but DON'T
finish it. Your child needs to develop the ending to it. You could
also try having your son re-write an Aesop's fable with a different
setting and characters." -- Heidi
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Answer our NEW Question
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"I am so discouraged sometimes. My seven year old boy is very bright
and wants to learn; he enjoys learning lots of times. But sometimes,
like for the last week, he decides he hates something so much that he
acts as though he's unable to do it. When I am there with him, though
I'm not helping him, he does it easily. But, as soon as I leave,
suddenly he can't do it anymore. In the last week, he has spent soooo
much time doing his math. Granted, he is a year ahead in math - doing
second-grade math now, instead of 1st-grade math. But, yesterday he
spent 75 minutes doing a worksheet that should have taken him 20 minutes;
and he never came out of it. I finally walked him through it, yet still
not giving him the answers. Today he has spent 150 minutes on a similar
20 minute worksheet -- and he's still not done. He keeps saying he
can't do it, but he did the same type of problems 2 weeks ago without
any trouble. In fact, what I think triggered this is that, though I
don't post 'grades', I expect him to get most of his work right. Lately
he has gotten 3-4 problems wrong on a worksheet of 12-16 problems. I
told him that he has to check his work before turning it in (a good
habit, right?). And, if he gets more than 2 wrong - when I grade his
paper - he has to do another worksheet. At the time I implemented this
- a week ago - he was doing two math worksheets a day, with no problems
other than some sloppy mistakes. To be extra easy on him, I told him
he only had to do one worksheet a day from now on and check it himself.
He will only have to do a second worksheet if he gets more than two
problems wrong. An easier thing, right? But he's fallen apart at math
every time since I implemented this new rule. (By the way, math is
the only subject we do worksheets on a bunch. We do an eclectic mixture
of Charlotte Mason/Classical Education with lots of living books).
What do I do? Do I make him tough it out, 'til he sees that he CAN do
it? Am I being too hard on him because he's only seven, and I can teach
him to be disciplined when he's older? I've tried to explain that it's
easier this way for him. Is this a character issue? I don't handle it
right - I know - when my children do this. My younger son has also
pulled this three times with his writing, even though he's a beautiful
writer (but he's not doing it now). What do you do when your children
fight with you over schoolwork? During all the time he's wasted, we have
had some words about it. It is soooo hard for me to quietly allow him
to self-destruct his day over 8 problems of math (the number of problems
on the last 2 days worksheets)! And I guess I'm not patient enough to
let my children sit at their desks for a long time, constantly letting
themselves believe they can't do something that I know they can. I end
up fussing at them for believing things that aren't true. Should I be
patient for this? What should I do? Thanks in advance for your help."
-- Diana
---
What do you think? Can you see a solution for Diana?
[Your answers will appear in our 5/28 issue.]
Please send your email to: mailto:HN-answers@familyclassroom.net
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