This week was a real eye opener for me. I finally realized (and probably not for the first time) that my son is not as old as he or I thinks he is when it comes to schooling. He's articulate, loves science, has a great memory when it comes to remembering insanely long dinosaur names or whose house we went to last year on that Wednesday in June after playing at Ollie Koalas (or something along those lines). However, when it comes to reading and writing, it's like someone switched my kid with someone else's. Each week has gotten progressively more difficult with his cooperation, participation, and my patience when it comes to the reading lessons. And since his spelling words come from the reading lessons, those have gotten worse, too. Even his handwriting this week turned to crap. I could tell he just did NOT care to do any of it. I flat out cancelled one reading lesson after 15 minutes of complete frustration. What's the point? If neither of us is enjoying it, he can't possibly be learning, and if he is, then he certainly isn't developing a LOVE of the subject. And I do not want to foster a hatred of reading and writing. I love it too much.
I'm not giving up the Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but I am going to back off. You're supposed to do one lesson a day, but he just can't stand it. When Sawyer is here, it's even worse because he's constantly trying to interrupt or even participate (but not properly), and it's extremely distracting. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to change it, but somehow or another, I've got to change my approach with his learning to read. I did find a website that we tested out yesterday, and he seemed to really enjoy it. It's called Reading Eggs. This site has lessons in the form of a map that the child completes. He gets to create his own avatar, he gets a house to live in, and special "stuff" to unlock as he does the lessons. He also gets eggs to "spend" on games and additional features for his avatar or house, etc. The animations are very captivating, and the lessons are fun.
As for math, we are continuing on with our money lessons. Hayden is doing a great job with this, and because of this, it is the first thing we do after our opening each day. He is learning to count by 5's and 10's very easily now because of the money activities, and he's gaining a better memory for which coins are which. He's also figuring out how many nickels are in a dime, how many dimes in a dollar, etc. We did/are doing some activities that I found at Math for School. This site has curriculums, concepts, and subjects divided into separate groups and by grade level. It has some great ideas.
Our fairy tales continued this week as well, but without as much gusto. Either I picked the wrong books with the wrong morals/lessons, or Hayden is just not into the fairy tales. Or maybe it was just that kind of week. Seriously, this was the longest week ever.
Next week is bound to be better. Pumpkins are on the agenda for every subject across the board. I think that this will prove to be a better route to go - kind of like I did with the dinosaurs and Florida, Dr. Seuss, and the 5 Senses.
One of our Sprout mom's is doing the "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons". She came to our Itty Bitty Book Club one day and shared some of your same frustrations. It was like her little hit a wall and it was like pulling teeth. But she has ended up very satified with the result. I'm excited to hear what your final verdict on the program is! :) And in case you needed a reminder ... your doing an awesome job! :)
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! You've done a great job so far :) Let me know if I can ask around at school or K material for certain things. Hope you're feeling good these days.
ReplyDeleteChristina McKeeby
Thanks, guys. Fortunately, this is why I chose this year to start. We can figure out what works for us and what doesn't without losing a lot of ground or worrying about getting behind, etc. I have decided to forego the 100 Lessons book. It just is not our cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteChristina, I will definitely let you know if I need anything. I've been real fortunate to have a lot of friends give me some pointers and information on things that worked for them. So, I think we'll try a variety of things this year to see what works best for us.
Stacy, I would be interested to hear what # lesson was the turning point that made things difficult for your friend.