Here is the July update of what I have read to date for the Tim Challies 2016 Reading Challenge.

My reading:

A book someone tells you “changed my life”: (Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakeable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie)

A book by or about a pastor’s wife: (Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full by Gloria Furman)

A book more than 100 years old: (In Freedom’s Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce by G. A. Henty)

A book by a woman conference speaker: (The Question by Leigh Bortins)

A self-improvement book: Do More Better

I did do an awful lot for my son when he was younger but at some point I really began to feel he needed to take more ownership of his own education, and I began trying to use accommodation more, to put tech in his hands and give him avenues to complete everything by himself. So I really am not doing all that much–all the CC parents are expected to discuss the content at home, and I enjoy watching the videos with him, for example. Things like typing, or science, I am just finding something during the summer that I think can work, get it and put it in his hands and then I move on. My older boys are pretty independent during the school year as I am tied up with the youngers (we have 5 still at home). I think we transitioned pretty entirely to audio books in about 8th grade. The workload just became too heavy and there was so little return with reading a book for literature vs. listening. He still has to read many textbooks and things like that–and when tested this year he was reading at a 12th grade level, so his comprehension is good even with print–but he couldn’t really enjoy it and many times couldn’t even understand it as well without a lot of slow, hard work (which takes the fun out). For example, sometimes he is asked to read aloud during Sunday School and he can definitely do it but he can’t usually process what he is reading–he can pronounce the words but doesn’t grasp the meaning. So if the point of the assignment is literature then I want him to access it in the way that will allow him to truly interact with the literature. He can read print when he has to (audio isn’t available) or wants to (for remediation–the only goal is learning to be a better reader)–but if he is reading for pleasure or for a school assignment then he uses audio. I believe that the majority of his reading should enable him to access content that is appropriate for his age (if he is 15 I don’t want him reading “10 year old books”–I want him listening to books that are appropriate for high school). Last year he did American Lit and prepped for the CLEP test so it was a TON of books–that would have been very difficult without audio, but with audio he could actually enjoy some of the books. Our son was NOT happy about switching to CC as he was afraid and thought he would hate it. And while he finds the workload daunting he is at least happy I will have some control, and he feels hopeful about the proposed accommodations (we are only on week 2, so it is all still unfolding. I know I can make it work for him, but last year was rough and he is having to exercise trust that he can do it. Last year was incredibly stressful as the workload in our other co op truly took too long). At CC last week he really enjoyed the classroom experience, so much more than he ever thought he would. He thought he would hate it but he really enjoyed discussing things with the other kids and the tutor–whew. So happy about that! He works harder than anyone I know, because he wants to do well and doesn’t want to be embarassed but he certainly doesn’t seem to love the process. But I keep telling him that one day he will appreciate all of this and for now he just needs to trust that we are trying to prepare him for college and the future.

This year we are trying Touch Type Read and Spell for the first time, which is a typing program, RA Orlowski, but as they learn to type they are also working through an Orton Gillingham spelling course (OG is a good method for dyslexics)–so it is combining spelling and typing. I have three kids using it for spelling. Honestly I am just out of time this year to do spelling with them, as I was spending so much time every day just teaching spelling because I have so many students (3 doing spelling and 1 doing phonics). This is a way for me to kill two birds with one stone, hopefully–but I can’t vouch for it as a typing or spelling program yet, as we just started. They like that it is fast (about 10 or 15 min per day) and I like the fact that they will have some independence with their spelling, at least for this year. Please note that this program is very expensive if you buy it retail through their website (something like $400 per year!) so if you are going to do it, join the Homeschool Buyers Co op (it is free) as they have a deal right now to get it for $80 for the first child and $40 for each additional child, and you can cancel within the first 10 days and get your money back if you don’t like it. It is way more $ than many other spelling programs even at that reduced price–but it isn’t too bad if I consider it as a spelling AND typing program plus the fact that I really didn’t have time for spelling this year–the price seemed really high for child #1, but the discount for the next two was good. I read a lot of reviews and did a lot of research and this is a program that many people and schools are using in the UK specifically for dyslexics so I thought it was worth a try.

I do think typing is necessary if your child’s learning disability makes writing difficult. My kids type all their papers since their handwriting is poor, and typing is faster plus then they have spell check. My college age son is required to type everything. I feel like it is a must for my kids. My oldest learned to type correctly but my next 2 (ages 15 and 13 now) don’t type as fast as they should because they don’t use correct fingering, so I am hoping this typing/spelling program will help with their speed and accuracy.

All our children have used Math U See (MUS), so I’ve been with their program for the past 12 years.  This has been a good fit for our dyslexic son, as the hands on, manipulative approach appeals to him.  The curriculum includes a video for teachers, but my kids always watch the video with me before we discuss the lesson.  There is an article on the MUS website about using Math U See for students with special needs.

UPDATE: This school year I felt our son (7th grade now) wasn’t quite ready to move on to Pre-algebra.  One of the struggles dyslexics have with math is that it can be hard for them to remember what order to do certain steps in.

I felt one more year of review and maturity would help get him ready for Pre-algebra, so this year we departed from Math U See (rather than complete the same text again) and did Teaching Textbooks.  Teaching Textbooks is done entirely on the computer (well, almost…he does use scratch paper).  The material it is covering is very similar to what he did last year, but in a different format.  It has worked very well for him, and he and I are both enjoying the independence he has gained from being able to do everything on the computer.  If he gets anything wrong, Teaching Textbooks will walk him step by step through the problem and show him how to do it correctly.  When he completes the curriculum in a few weeks I intend for him to skim quickly through the MUS text he did last year and make sure he has a good mastery of all the concepts.

Next year I intend to enroll him in a co op class for Pre-algebra.

Math Journal:  One thing we have done which is helpful is to keep a math journal.  In his math journal, my son writes formulas that he needs to remember, conversion charts, and the like. It can be helpful to refer back to his journal when necessary, and this has been a useful memory tool, as well.

One of my other websites, My Audio School, has been nominated for Best Educational Use of Audio in the Edublog awards! Voting ends TONIGHT, December 16th. If you haven’t voted yet, please take a second to click the badge and cast a vote for My Audio School!

I feel so blessed to be nominated again this year for the Homeschool Blog Awards.  Thank you!  In honor of the awards we decided to hold our own little awards ceremony today:  The Homeschool Apple Awards.

Four distinctive apples were chosen:  Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Gala and Honey Crisp.  Slices of each were sampled and a vote was taken.  Which apple would win?

Granny Smith and Golden Delicious tied.  Gala and Honey Crisp were eliminated, having garnered only one vote each.  A re-vote was taken.

Golden Delicious won, hands down!  Only Grandma voted for Granny Smith.

Yes, this is just a bit of silliness.  But you should try it!  Our lunch conversation was lively and now I know what kind of apples to buy next time at the store!

I’m a bit of a “softie” and don’t usually require as many rewrites as might be necessary to produce truly stellar work. Inspiring (pushing?) my son to do his very best in an area that is often subjective has also been difficult for me. My biggest problem is finding the time needed to thoughtfully correct my son’s work, and to guide him step by step through the writing process, particularly with several other young children who also need daily help from mom.

About 18 months ago we found Write Guide, an online course which pairs students with experienced, highly qualified writing teachers. It has been a fantastic fit for our family, and my son’s writing has improved by leaps and bounds through Write Guide.

The Write Guide teachers are willing to assign work if you prefer, but in our case, I wanted to be more involved in my son’s writing course. I want my son to write about topics he is studying in history, and to experience several different kinds of writing throughout the school year. With Write Guide this is no problem! At the beginning of each semester I put together an outline of the topics and types of writing my son will do, and each week the teacher and I communicate about the coming week’s assignments. She implements my vision, assigning work to my son and making all the corrections and recommendations for revision. The teacher communicates with my son daily, 5 times per week, about his assignments. She and I are also in regular communication about how my son is doing, how many more days he may need to finish a given assignment and what is on the horizon for his next project.

My son is writing better than ever before, as I find that he pushes himself to do higher quality work for his writing teacher than he did for good ‘ol mom. It is easy to get him to excel in areas like math and science, where work and grades are objective, but I never really knew how to grade his writing, or how judge whether he was capable of more. His Write Guide teacher has been able to find the balance between pushing him to grow with every assignment and knowing when “enough is enough” before boredom sets in.

Online classes don’t make sense for every family, but they have been instrumental for our family in continuing to educate our oldest child at home. Courses like the Write Guide writing instruction provide enough challenge for this gifted student to continue growing, and I am freed up to spend more time with my younger children who are dependent on spending time with me for virtually every subject.

http://www.writeguide.com/

http://www.writeguide.com/order.htm

This course is very intuitive since it is largely hands on, especially for the younger grades. All of my boys have done well with MUS. My oldest has always gotten mostly A’s and B’s, though math isn’t his favorite subject. My middle boys are both doing very well, and often surprise me by making applications to the math they are learning that are WAY beyond what I have taught them.

It is giving them a good foundation to understand HOW MATH WORKS, which enables them to make big jumps beyond what I’ve taught them. That is exciting to see! MUS also has a lot of online support. There is a yahoo group, as well as telephone support for those who are stuck on math problems, online generated worksheets and online drill.

Our first introduction to Ms. Fulbright’s books was Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.

This book was so interesting and engaging that two of my boys (then ages 3 and 5) took up avid birdwatching. To this date (now they are 5 and 7), they have memorized dozens and dozens of bird calls and can recognize even more species by sight. Flying Creatures was the catalyst for all that. We have also studied Astronomy, Botany and Land Animals with Apologia with our younger boys.

There are numerous opportunities to draw or write in their notebooks, as well as opportunities for them to narrate what they are learning. They have really retained a lot through these courses, and it has given them a real love for science. The books are interesting, informative, colorful and conversational. They are also explicitly Christian.

Our oldest son Jack used Dr. Wile’s Exploring Creation with General Science course last year, and now he is in the next course, Physical Science.  We purchased these courses on CD-Rom instead of using a traditional text book. He loves the fact that his course uses an interactive interface, like a web page. Many supplies for the experiments are household items, and most of the others can be easily gotten together on a trip to Walmart. He really enjoys the experiments and is learning a lot from them.  One strength of this course is that he is asked to keep a science notebook with details about his labs. This course also has study sheets and tests. It is written from a Christian, creationist perspective. There are active yahoo support groups for both Elementary Apologia and Apologia science.

I started Spell to Write and Read (SWR) with a child in 5th grade, a child in 1st grade and a 4 year old child. The 4 year old was basically a blank slate…in fact, this year (Kindergarten for him) is the first year he is actively applying SWR daily, as last year he was mainly just learning the phonograms and playing SWR games with us. My oldest did Spelling Power and Getty Dubay handwriting…he is a great speller, but it was not due to Spelling Power (SP). He is a natural. He likes SWR much better than SP, and I feel he is progressing better/faster than he was in SP because SP had less of a rhyme and reason to the way the words were organized.

SP was easy enough when we were doing basic words but now that we are up to high school level words, SP relied more on memorization than method, and SWR has made learning those difficult words much easier for him.

My 2nd grader did a year of Veritas Press phonics when he was in Kindergarten, which was not a good fit for him; last year he started 1st grade with SWR, NOT reading at all and writing most letters/numbers backwards…he would sound out words and not remember them moments later, and he would read many 3 letter words backwards (saw and was were interchangeable, for example). I thought he was dyslexic, but when I had him tested I was told that he was not.

One year with SWR and the companion writing program, Cursive First, and he is now reading at grade level, never writes letters backwards (though still some numbers), and has much more beautiful handwriting than his 6th grade brother who only started CF last year, way too late (his handwriting is poor unless he REALLY concentrates on it).

My Kindergartner is the first to truly start with SWR as a “clean slate” and he isn’t really old enough for me to give a report of his long term success…but he is coming along with his CF handwriting (and enjoys writing on the clock face stamp!), he is reading at a 1st grade level, he knows all the single letter phonograms and many of the double letter ones, and at this time he can spell all the words in the first 3 lists. SWR has been a wonderful program for my strong speller, my child needing remediation, and my beginner. And even my 2 year old likes to repeat the phonograms when he hears us.

I tell everyone that it takes quite a bit of work to learn how to use SWR, but that once you understand it you should be able to implement it if you are diligent. I feel strongly about the results being well worth the effort, especially if you have a struggling reader or speller, as I did. SWR has an online support group on yahoo. It is an active group with lots of help available for those desiring to learn how to implement this program.