Last day of 2008

“Learn to Read” books are dull and aggravating. – Beginning Reading has been a fun task this year. At first I was focusing on “teaching” them phonics and encouraging them to read little books (like the Bob Books set) but the kids were thoroughly bored with the story lines. (These two have huge attention spans and love LONG stories, so something that they can finish in less than a minute actually makes them angry). Instead we have created our own reading system. Mommy reads the book, usually a Five In A Row title that goes along with our science or social studies theme, and then we will re-read it with the kids being given specific words to sound out as we go. We play other phonics games too. Sometimes they will be given letters to search for on the page (“Who can find a ‘q’), and phonics games (“where is a word that contains a silent e”) Going through the book more slowly also gives us a chance to look at it in more depth and dwell on the artwork on each page, or the author’s use of certain phrases etc. The key for us is that they are only willing to read if the reading material is worthy of their attention.

Sticking to a schedule is key – We do the same things in the same order every day with very little exception: Wake, breakfast, dress and chores, 15 min of free time (no longer or they get too absorbed in their game), Reading, Handwriting, Math. Snack time and another 15 minute break. A “fun” lesson, and then they are free to play (preferably outdoors). Science and Social Studies are saved for last because they are “fun” but we don’t do these every day. Sometimes we will do an art project or craft just for fun instead. On the days that I stick to this schedule everything hums along smoothly – but if I get a phone call or try to check my e-mail before we have finished our lessons, forget it.

The math book doesn’t know my kids – Although my oldest is capable of filling out the pages in her math book, and I really love the colorful simple BJ program we chose, she honestly hasn’t mastered basic counting, so she struggles more than necessary. I’ve decided to ditch the book for a while and focus simply on numbers. Writing them, reading them, and quickly identifying amounts. The book is good, and we will get back to it after a few weeks off, but it was forcing her to rush past the basic comprehension that she missed which isn’t helping her at all. This will also give me a chance to focus more on what my 3 year old needs. Bye-bye book.