Why I love homeschooling….
Do you see that? Yes, that cute little red head. Do you know what she was doing? What she chose to do after her shower when everyone else was running around being goofy?
She is doing a bit of copywork. What is so special about that? It was her choice to copy from a book that she READ ALL BY HERSELF. To say she was a bit excited is putting it mildly.
My journey in teaching my children to read has been interesting. I always told myself that if I could teach my children to read, then nothing was too difficult. My phonetic background is not stellar so teaching reading scared me to pieces. I searched reading/phonics curriculum like crazy when Bekah was little. After failure with one program and a break for a few months, I ended up going with the curriculum I said I would never use. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
It worked for Bekah. It worked with Mary. It worked with Caleb (yeah, the boy who was going to be delayed in reading due to his speech issues and was going to need a special, slow paced curriculum). All three are fabulous readers; able to read above their age with no problem. Then along came LuLu.
Yes, my Lydia Lu has her own drumbeat going on. When it appeared to be time to teach reading, I pulled out my used $10 copy of 100 Easy Lessons and we hit the ground running. And she cried. Every day. As soon as she saw the book. It was not pretty. I put the book back on the shelf. We took a break from learning to read. After a few months, I pulled it back out and she cried some more. It just wasn’t clicking.
I don’t see the need to spend hundreds of dollars on phonics and no way can I handle silly songs and games to teach phonics. There are not enough hours in a day, folks. So I did what I always do when I want a book. I check the library first to see what phonics curriculums they had. One that was available was Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading. I knew a few people how used it and highly recommended it. Hmm, I’m pretty ordinary. I’ll take a look.
It was similar to 100 Easy Lessons in that the lessons were short and doable in 15-20 min a day. I liked that. However, it was different in an important way. It was set up by sounds. You learn short vowels sounds, then long vowels with silent e, etc. Very organized. No illustrations. Every now and then a “game” is tossed in as an optional activity. No special books or accessories are needed. Just OPGTTR, pen and paper. 100 Easy Lessons just seemed random in what was presented.
The great thing? It is working for Lydia. She doesn’t cry. She hasn’t really been jumping for joy about it, either, but she is not having breakdowns. I’ll take it. We took a short break when we moved and had Sam. I decided for Lydia backing up and doing some review would be a good thing. And it was. The review gave her time to get back into a “reading groove” and built her confidence. When we went to the library a few days ago she grabbed a book (an early reader type deal) and read it. Then she grabbed a reader off our shelf at home (Pathway Reader) and read two or three stories to her sister. She took the book with her tonight to read on the way to Bible study.
And she was excited. Thrilled. She read a story to her daddy this afternoon and you could see her beaming happiness. She has worked hard. I’m so thankfully she is enjoying the fruit of her labor. And I am BLESSED that I get to see every moment. She is already planning to read to me tomorrow. I can’t wait.
