Homeschool
-
Using Clay in our Homeschool
Learning how to cope with and use dyslexia isn’t a walk in the park. It’s an epic trek across foreign lands rife with new foes and hidden dangers. Or at least it can feel that way. In the past two posts about reading remediation we’ve chatted about fluency practice and Pathway Readers. In the Pathway Reader post, I told you I write down words that stump my student. This post will explain what I do with those words. When my child was first diagnosised with dyslexia, our assessor offered many techniques and solutions to get us started on the road to reading and understanding. One of the methods suggested was…
-
Pathway Readers & Dyslexia
I sat on the floor, criss-cross applesauce, cradling my sobbing eleven-year-old. I prayed, patted her hair, and tried to be the encouraging mama. But nothing soothed my student. What caused all the tears? A boring reader. Dyslexia is hard. When your child enters tweendom the differences between kids show more fiercely. My child was noticing. Not body types or fashion sense but her lag in reading ability and speed. Then, on top of all of that, after battling with dyslexia through a tutoring session her reward was a boring, kindergarten reader. The same boring and senseless sentences. It was so hard on my student I began writing my own short…
-
Victory Drill Book
How our family uses Victory Drill Book for reading remediation. This post might contain affiliate links. Just thought you’d like to know. We’ve used many, many, MANY tools, sets, and kits to help teach reading. I could cheer for several curriculum and program providers. Some work quickly and then fizzle. Others take too long to integrate and discourage my students. In our home, reading curriculums work until they don’t. Changes in hormones, changes in mental capacity, and changes in attention span interfere and morph our remediation routines and needs. This mama is tired of stalling and running off to purchase the next package that promises to help, only to reach…
-
Books for your Morning Basket
Words, words everywhere and not a book to read. Sometimes the task of bringing it altogether for morning basket time is a daunting one. The amount of book lists cluttering the internet can clog the mind like confetti down a kitchen sink. I love books that clump one or more subjects together. They make my morning reading time instantly more successful. Here are a few of my favorites. (Pst… this post contains affiliate links. Just thought you’d like to know) Prayers that Changed History By Tricia Goyer This book blends faith with action and impact. It demonstrates the power of prayer to change the world with historical examples of prayers…
-
90 Days through the New Testament
I love challenges. I do a great job tackling hard missions. Juice fasts. Nanowrimo. Once I signed up for a read the Bible in 90 days challenge and nailed it. The problem, for me, is once I’ve conquoered the challenge I don’t continue the behavior. It only takes a week or two and before I’ve slid off the wagon and back into familar routines. My 90 days through the Bible challenge was fantastic and did spur on a deeper love for God’s word but didn’t become a habit. This time around I want to savor the scriptures as I push myself to complete them. I also want to include my…
-
Restructuring the Ruins
You didn’t see it coming. Life crept up behind you and hijacked your homeschool plans. You have no choice… the curriculum, the routine, the hard-won easy flow of the day… SPLAT! It’s gone and you have to start from scratch. After you’ve prayed what do you do next? First, comfort your children. Even if the change is the very thing your kids have been routing for all semester, the pressure that comes with the rubble is not. Don’t convince yourself you’re the only one affected. Your children feel the stress and if it’s not handled gently they can fling it back at you. It doesn’t matter whether or not the…
-
Christmas in Honey Pot
Ever wished, come Christmastime, that you lived in a small town. You know the type you see in Hallmark movies. White snow, sparkling community tree, town hall Christmas pageant, all the major seasonal dressings. Maybe you can’t live in a Norman Rockwell painting or even next door to Linus and Charlie Brown. But you can visit a small town at Christmas, without shedding your Snuggie. Welcome to Honey Pot, the small town of mystery. Sure, they have frost and Main Street decorations. They have a pageant complete with wise men and donkeys. But Honey Pot also plays host to small-town drama and big time trauma. From now until the end of…
-
Holiday Game School
Does Christmas break have you worried about brain drain and video game stupor of your homeschool students? How can one homeschool and break at the same time? Let me introduce you to Game-Schooling. Christmas break offers solace for students. This midyear recharge comes at a much needed time. The first semester is wrapped up, for better or worse, and the second is yet to peek around the corner. However, for students in higher grades, the break often is accompanied by homework and projects. With groans and grunts and remembrances of past years and the freedom, December used to offer students and parent/teachers often plug away and ignore the needling necessity of rest.…
-
Dyslexia Awareness Discount
October is dyslexia awareness month. Being a family dealing with the disability, I couldn’t be left out of the celebration. Yes, dyslexia difficult to master. We have days of clamorous victory and days we’re barely staving off defeat. Reading feels impossible. Catching up is the normal. But dyslexia isn’t all gloom. The dyslexics I’ve encountered have grit. They have spunk and determination. They can see into problems and through issues without a double glance. Dyslexics are inventive problem solvers and compassionate creatives. If you have a dyslexic in your life, give them a squeeze and cheer them on. To celebrate my book Diary of a Dyslexic Homeschooler will be on…
-
Questions about Dyslexia
AKA THINGS I’M ASKED ALL THE TIME After publishing Diary of a Dyslexic Homeschooler, more and more of my acquaintances and friends are asking me about dyslexia. And not just the surface skipping question. Oh, No. They’re asking deep, nitty-gritty, open the underwear drawer, getting personal questions. Though I’m not shy to share my family drama, this story is not all mine to share. Yes, my book was inspired by family experiences but I’m not trekking the journey on my own. Though I do have permission to share, I will not divulge anything I believe may come back to haunt my loved ones. That and I am no expert. I am…
