Friday, May 9, 2008

We Have Another Reader!

Tom Sawyer (6) finished Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons today! He really is super great at sounding out words and is really doing well in reading.  He is very excited about moving on to early readers.  I really believe in this program, but it was not all smooth sailing.  It was just too dry for my little guy.  He is a very creative soul and found the lessons boring.  Some days he would use his toes to follow along instead of his fingers and even read upside down for variety.  It came very easily to him, though, and we finally made it through!


We celebrated by making him a cake and giving him a reading certificate.








Now, I will try to teach Goldilocks (7) again.  This will be attempt number four.  Having Fetal Alcohol Dysfunction is so damaging on so many levels.  I am torn between trying 100 Easy Lessons or another phonics program.  She couldn't get 100 Easy Lessons the last time or Museum Phonics or the Bob Books.  She is motivated to get the cake this time, though, so maybe I should try the 100 Easy Lessons again.


Blessings, Dawn

8 comments:

  1. This is the most exciting thing ever in Homeschooling ;0) seeing them learn to read! Congrats to you all, and Tom Sawyer especially!!! I said a prayer for you as you teach Goldilocks - may God bless you with the wisdom you need! Have a Wonderful Mother's Day! MeritK

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  2. Now the world is at his feet. What a great way to celebrate his success.

    Although I have heard of 100 Lessons, I'm not sure how it works. Perhaps you can incorporate some lapbooking or other project orientated method to motivate her. My children were taught to read (the first time) through A.C.E. Worked fine for my daughter, but when I brought them home to learn I had to re-teach my older son when he was 10. I used Saxon's Phonics Intervention and that seemed to make the difference for him.It is for older LD children. The scary part is that no two children learn in the same way and such are the challenges of any homeschool. I will keep you in prayer as you teach Goldilocks. I'm sure you will do just fine. Your an awesome mom and a motivated teacher.

    Happy Mother's Day!

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  3. barrellfullofmonkeysMay 10, 2008 at 3:18 AM

    Yippee for Tom Sawyer!! What an exciting accomplishment.


    The cake's a great idea, wish I had thought of that for our Big Man! That will have to be the new celebration in this house. We need cake :)


    Kathy D.

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  4. Congratulations!!!


    You are so creative, Dawn! What a great idea to celebrate with a cake.


    I'd love to hear what you come up with. JJ is struggling, too, and 100 Easy Lessons doesn't seem to be our answer. He desperately wants to read, so I'd really to find a solution soon.


    Denise

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  5. Hooray! It's exciting seeing this world begin to open up for them. dd (also 6) has done an awesome job with reading this year. We used Horizons. Good luck with Goldilocks...I wish I had some wisdom for you on what to try other than the prize of a cake at the end. But who knows...that may be all it takes this time.


    Janet

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  6. Yea for your son! My son picked it up easily, he would never let me teach him. My dd let me teach her, but she couldn't focus. I got the sandbox out and traced her fingers in the sand repeatedly while sounding out the letters.

    Blessings,

    Laurie

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  7. My older two used 100 EZ lessons and they were wiggly, too. I even had one to use his toes, just like Tom Sawyer. I just started Phonics Pathways with Kade.

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  8. I tried 100 Easy about a year ago, for a very short time, for Butterfly, but it didn't go over. I've since tried a few others. Museum by Veritas was too involved for me LOL, Alpha Phonics was okay, but I've since settled on Phonics Pathways. I think she's not crazy about it but then she just doesn't particularly like practice work with the rules. I like it's rules explanations, & it's going really well with our All About Spelling program (another one I really like). She's enjoying doing readers more often now; better real life practice & I keep pointing out rules as we come across them (hopefully reinforcing).


    I love the idea of a celebration. That must have really made him feel happy about his accomplishment!

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