Homeschooling the Difficult Reader

I've shared semi-openly here that Jeremiah is my reluctant reader. Capturing his interest (and keeping it) has been my biggest challenge in homeschooling...ever.

I'm fairly certain that Jeremiah is a right-brained thinker. He doesn't enjoy anything concrete. He has creativity oozing out of his ears. He struggles with the phonetic code. His progress has been 3 steps forward, 2 steps back.

I truly believe in letting each child work at their own pace. I follow my kids interests when I choose what we will study next. However, there are those times that you have to push a child to do things they simply do not want to do. Many times my kids have discovered a new interest or talent after a little nudging from Mom or Dad.

I can't say that I haven't worried over Jeremiah. So many times I wondered, "is homeschooling right for him?" or "am I going about this the right way?" I haven't been in any particular hurry. I've waited patiently for that magical moment to kick in for him. That moment when all the letters on the page just suddenly make sense. However, that just has not happened for Jeremiah. So it's time to explore other options.

Some of the things we've tried: How to Teach Your Child in 100 Easy Lessons: I used it to teach the other two boys how to read with no issues. I didn't even finish the book before they were reading independently.

Right Brain Phonics: We did this one for a while. We used the flash cards and word lists. But it's very dry. There aren't any stories. It just never held his interest long enough to be very effective. There wasn't that feeling of accomplishment you get when you read a story. Besides, he's had so much trouble with the phonetic code...

Reading Incentives: We did the summer reading challenge at the library this past summer. We went to the library every week. I even set a family goal of taking everyone out to Sonic for Happy Hour, if everyone completed a book that week. We made it to Sonic almost every week. He made a lot of progress this summer, but he still wasn't reading independently.

So now we are trying Hooked on Phonics. I bought the first grade kit, since that is about his level.

He puts in the dvd and watches his lesson. Then we read the workbook pages together. At the end of every unit, he gets a book that he sits down to read on his own. This was the first time he ever sat down to read a book without my help! He was so stinkin' proud. 

After he does his silent reading he comes to me and answers some comprehension questions. He is flying through the first box. He actually comes to me and ASKS to do a reading lesson. The curriculm was a little pricy, but it was totally money well spent.

I did not receive any compensation, nor was I given any of these products as a sample.

Some Goings' On

Jeremiah has been exercising his free spirit these days.

The fun never stops. :) 

It's So Hard to Grow Up

Especially when Mom makes you stay inside until all of your school work is done.

Oh, at first it's not so bad. You get up in the morning and work your way through phonics and reading.

But then lunch comes around and you decide to cut loose. You play around, make messes, and then your big sister makes you clean them up. The whole world wants to hold you down.

Finally! 3:00 comes around and it's time to go play outside! But low and behold, you still have math work. Your brothers go out only to come running in to tell you that the cat caught a lizard! Still 8 more problems to go...

A little later Joshua comes running in again to tell you he found a giant frog! It might even be a toad! You have 5 more problems...

One more big lustful sigh and on with your math you go. Very slowly. Growing up is so not fair.

Robin Hood

I walked out the front door one day and thought I walked in to Sherwood Forest.

Someone sure has gone to town making himself merry.

I'm not sure if the red is fire...or blood...either way the effect is dramatic. Not to mention it looks like someone has pretty good aim.

Aaaah! Apparently we are being kept safe from little men in trees! Hooray for Robin Hood!

Someone is 9!

My youngest child is 9 today. He is still the delight of his family, full of curiosity and imagination.

He was a "late bloomer" in reading. I suspect he has some right-brain thinking going on. Imaginative people sometimes have difficulty with concrete learning objectives. We started using Right Brained Phonics with him. I'm very impressed with the results. I'd say he's right on track and reading at a 3rd grade level (for me this means he can easily read books on 3rd grade reading lists). He has been working hard and is currently reading the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. I used this series to sort of bribe him into reading harder books. He loves dragons and dinosaurs.

He is a fun loving kid. He likes to snuggle with his family. He's so thoughtful about showing his affection. He also still terrorizes his big brothers. It seems to be his job to keep them on their toes, as it often goes with younger siblings. He builds up their character and reminds them to keep their stuff put away. haha

He's one of those kids you can't keep in the house for very long. He starts to stare out of windows daydreaming. I have to give him his school work in small spurts or else the learning doesn't seem to stick quite as well. Rainy days equal a very restless little boy.

He's a great story teller like his big sister. I can often find him and her making up new stories together.

Being homeschooled, he is very "young" for his age. I'm glad for it. One of the reasons I homeschool is so that my kids don't have to grow up so fast. However, pairing that with the fact that he's also pretty big for his age, gives him the effect of a bull in a china shop.

He has a great sense of humor and is usually easy going. He bounces back very quickly from hurt feelings or being corrected for wrong behavior. He's always a good sport when I suggest we try something new. I can count on him to get excited about a new project.

I just love this kid.

Dragons and Tales

Jeremiah has a new obsession. Two actually.







He loves the movie How to Train Your Dragon. He pretends, dreams, and writes about this movie. Writing would be his next obsession. He's leaving notes and stories all over the house. Being the homeschool mom that I am. I used the opportunity to teach him about contractions. ;-)

He wrote this story while we were watching Kelsea at the Turkmen Video recording.

Happy Birthday Jeremiah

We met Leon after work for dinner out in honor of Jeremiah's day.



He chose the Chinese Buffet.



He ate chicken nuggets and french fries. HA!



He had his favorite cake. He asks for the same thing every year.






His brothers pooled together and bought him a very cool sword.



He now sleeps with it at night.



He also picked out a WebKinz at the store. Mostly he just wanted cash to save up for something big. haha

Jeremiah

He's still the same boy he was a year ago. His daily objective is to keep up with his brothers. Not an easy feat, but he holds his own. He still love dinosaurs and things that go fast. He excels in math, but struggles with reading. Though he is coming along pretty fast this summer with some extra work.

His best friend is his cat, Vader. They go hunting in the woods together, and lounge around the house when it's too hot (or cold) to be outside. Jeremiah's imagination knows no bounds and he can keep himself, and the cat, entertained for hours on end.

Birthday Card

I think someone has a birthday coming up.



Because they keep receiving cards in the mail.



Someone is thrilled that Nana sent his card a little early. "It's like I get 2 birthdays!"

Life just doesn't get any sweeter for a kid about to turn 8.

Express Yourself

I should have taken pictures when the haircuts were fresh.

The boys get their hair cut pretty regularly. Sometimes they go to the barber and sometimes Daddy does it. In this case they went to the barber and picked out their own cuts.





I love that the kids are comfortable expressing themselves.

Tea and Toast

Breakfast of Champions.



Compare it to Oatmeal Shmoatmeal:

Look at my boy!

He's totally rocking that vintage 1980's Levi blue jean jacket. He just needs to turn the collar up...and maybe wear a white t-shirt underneath. What's that in his hands? A portable gaming system?

A portable cassette player with AM/FM radio!!!! He's listening to a story on tape.

 

Little dude sure knows how to take us back.

Keeping Jeremiah Busy

Jeremiah was antsy today.

He perused the sticker stash till he found what he wanted. Robot Eyes.


Here is he's making what he calls a "Mr. Jason" face. Maybe Tawna understands....I don't.


"Look! My eyebrows are still stuck on the stickers!"


But being a Commanding Officer of The Secret Fun Police, I decided he needed to do something more Constructive with his time.

So I gave him the BANANAGRAMS and had him do his spelling with them. Apparently I ruined his day...maybe even his life...sitting him down with a school game. SLAVE LABOR!


Then he spelled out sentences.


Pitiful.

Jeremiah

During read aloud time today, I stopped and noticed Jeremiah was rolling something around with his fingers on the arm of my sofa.

Me: "Dude, stop rubbing your boogers on my couch."

Jeremiah: "It's not a booger, it's a scab."

Me: "Lovely *insert eyeroll*"

Jeremiah sidled up to me, "Mama, does that make me your teacher's pest?"

Me: "Yes, Jeremiah. You can be my teacher's pest."

Oatmeal Mondays

"Oatmeal, Shmotemeal, I don't like oatmeal."

I am so thinking of that kid on A Christmas Story who didn't like his meatloaf. hahahaha