| Author | |
dawn2006
Forum Pro
Joined: Aug 07 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 267
|
| Posted: Jan 18 2008 at 2:41pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
The yelling is from me (more like very loud grunting and yesterday I pounded the table!!   ) and crying from ds. I'm taking this as a sign to back down a bit. So I've switched from caring whether or not we finish the daily assignments to just working on each subject until ds's brain fries, and then we stop. Even if it's only five minutes (as it is usually is with the LSLF books). I"m figuring that if my blood is boiling and he's just guessing and looking to me for approval then I've a) pushed him one minute too far and b) expected too much from him. What else should I be considering?? TIA.
Edited to add: he's my only schooler right now. I've been working on things in little blocks of time here and there and giving him plenty of time to run and play or snack in between. I'm trying to follow the idea of small blocks of time but with concentrated effort.
__________________
Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ALmom
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 18 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3299
|
| Posted: Jan 18 2008 at 3:47pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Is your oldest only 5? Are you in a state that requires you to school or turn in anything? I, personally, would drop it entirely, and focus on having fun together and character training and training him to do chores. If you want something available, then invest in some sort of manipulative alphabet (whether magnets for the refrig., wooden letters or foam letters) and let him come to you to ask for what stuff means. You can have fun reading aloud. He is bound to come to you asking for information. Don't worry about it at all until he is school age. But, just so you know, I do tend to be one that isn't in a hurry to start school. Most of mine don't have traditional formal or required lessons till at least 7. Still, it seems to me that you can have concentrated effort for short or long periods with other kinds of work - finger painting, playdough,pouring, washing dishes, mopping the floor, putting pegs in holes, etc.
I will tell you that the LSLF (which is what we have used with our 7/8 year old) is sweet and all, but the print is small and hard to read. If eyes have not developed the convergence skills yet, you are just going to cause problems down the road.
Janet
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SeaStar
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 16 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 9068
|
| Posted: Jan 18 2008 at 5:08pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My ds is also five and very high maintenance. But he wants to learn... some days are easy and everything flows along smoothly with him. Some days are just tough, and all he wants to do is play with his "beach" ( a pan with moonsand in it that he drives cars through). On the tough days, I've learned to let things ride, or let him come to me with things he wants to learn.
For reading, I've had the best luck with keeping things very short and simple. Ds does not want to sit down and read LSLF. But we have an art easel in the room, and every day I write a "secret message" for him on it. It might be a line from a LSLF book or a simple sentence I've made up or even just a couple of words. He's never sure when a new secret message will show up, so he keeps his eyes out for it. Sometimes if he does a really good job reading, then I'll let him pick out one jelly bean from our jar as a treat. He loves that.
Math can be even tougher. If he says he doesn't want to do math that day, often I will get out the math anyway and sit quietly next to him at the table and work on it myself. That seems to nearly always peak his interest. I'll talk to myself as I work, and he is all ears, even if he's playing with his beach at the time. I keep lessons very short and always stop when he loses interest.
It's just not worth tears to me at this point. He's still so young, and he's always surprising me with how much he is learning despite our relaxed attitude.
__________________
Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Barbara C.
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 11 2007
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 882
|
| Posted: Jan 18 2008 at 7:45pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My daughter just turned five in November. We've done a little bit of formal school work for a year, mostly because she was asking to do things like learn how to read. We've also been working in Singapore math workbooks.
I've kind of learned that timing is everything. For instance, (even though I forget like I did today) she needs to eat not long before we start on school time. Other wise she gets more easily frustrated. I've also found that there are certain times a day that work better for her than others. And we keep formal stuff pretty short like 2 pages of math workbook and 1 reading worksheet. And sometimes we just use the time to play board or card games or work on a little project together.
And, I'm not sure what LSLF is, but it just may not fit with your son's learning style. We had to try a few different things before I found what would make reading start to click. I also had to give her time for her brain to be ready to allow certain things to click.
__________________
Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
Box of Chocolates
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Heliodora
Forum Rookie
Joined: Jan 07 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 79
|
| Posted: Jan 18 2008 at 8:03pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm with ALmom. Five is still really little, especially for a boy. At five, I would never expect them to do more than an hour of formal school a day, if that.
__________________
Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. -1 Thessalonians 5:21
Heliotropium
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Becky Parker
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Michigan
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2582
|
| Posted: Jan 19 2008 at 7:09am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Just wanted to add that my ds, at 5, could not have handled LSLF. As a matter of fact, now, at 6, he still can't. We use 100 Easy Lessons and even with that, 10 minutes of reading instruction is all he needs. Perhaps when he is on the verge of tears (or you are  ) just put it away and say, "OK, now I'm going to read to you." Then pull out a good picture book or something. It will help him to love learning and remain enthused about learning to read especially.
__________________
Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
dawn2006
Forum Pro
Joined: Aug 07 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 267
|
| Posted: Jan 19 2008 at 4:37pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks all. I'd like to give a concrete example of where we get frustrated. Ds (will be 6 in Feb) can read "stop" no problem right? But "stops" is just too much. I don't understand why? And I make what I feel to be the biggest error of all that leads almost immediately to getting angry: "he's not trying/thinking about it!" Also, he can sound out "pot", for example, but has to re-sound it out everytime he sees it. Even though we go over word families and he understands rhyming, etc.
The reason why it didn't occur to me about LSLF being too much is b/c all the CHC materials are billed to be gentle and simple. Their plans call for one book a week. We've been on the 2nd book for two weeks. I don't mind that so much b/c I'm starting to learn the importance of keeping at his pace, but it does give me pause to think that *I* might be doing something wrong.
__________________
Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Heliodora
Forum Rookie
Joined: Jan 07 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 79
|
| Posted: Jan 19 2008 at 4:59pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I wonder if he isn't really sounding out the words and is learning them in more of a look-say way. If he isn't really fluent with the sounds the letters make, then he would have to sound them out each time rather than guess the word from the context of the story or the pictures. That may be why he has trouble with "stops" because he has memorized "stop" and doesn't know what to do with the other letter. I'm not familiar with LSLF, but I'm not fond of programs that make the kids memorize the "look" of a word or have too many repetitions of the same word in a story (think: Dick and Jane.) They will inevitably have trouble reading words that they have never seen or heard before.
I have always used programs that are based on The Writing Road to Reading- there are several lesson plan choices out there, some more rigorous than others. You can be gentle with these too, by just going at the child's pace.
I've had great success with them- my children are very fluent readers who love to read (in fact, I can't get the books out of their hands usually.) At five though, and even six, my boys were never ready to read. I was always reading something to them though. I'd say, give it a break and shop around for a different curriculum.
__________________
Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. -1 Thessalonians 5:21
Heliotropium
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Becky Parker
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Michigan
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2582
|
| Posted: Jan 21 2008 at 5:48am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I'm not an expert at all, but I do know that it is usually just a developemental thing. Some kids just aren't ready at a young age. My oldest ds didn't read until 3rd grade, but once he started I couldn't keep enough books around here. My dd learned to read early, at age 5, but she's certainly not ahead of her older brother that read later. I know this doesn't make sense (I'm trying, really ) but kids are just different. To be honest, that is one of the reasons I have a hard time with CHC's lesson plans. Not all kids are ready for LSLF and certainly not at that pace. And, as a side note, my dd that read early cried when I pulled out LSLF. She wanted to read her Catholic National Reader instead.
Once again, I would say relax a little. Read to your son. Do some phonics flashcards. Try some fun things. But if he gets frustrated and you want to yell, that's a great time to just stop for the day. Just my .02 but as I try to teach ds (7 in February) I see more and more that every child is so different and Homeschooling is such a blessing because we can meet them where they are. Learning to read should be a time of excitement, not drudgery. The child should see his accomplishment and cheer, not feel bad because he can't do it. I'm not saying your son feels bad, but I am remembering my struggles with my oldest. Thank God someone stepped in and told me he just wasn't ready.
__________________
Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Heliodora
Forum Rookie
Joined: Jan 07 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 79
|
| Posted: Jan 21 2008 at 9:02am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Becky Parker wrote:
| I am remembering my struggles with my oldest. Thank God someone stepped in and told me he just wasn't ready. |
|
|
Indeed! I wish someone had told me that with my oldest, who didn't start to read until he was nearly nine. Of course when he finally did start reading, it was The Hobbit that he picked up for his first book. (He literally went from struggling with a primer to that book.) But I struggled for three years with him and with other people's discouraging comments (do you really think homeschooling was such a good idea? I mean your son still can't read! My little Johnny learned at so-and-so preschool and has been reading since he was three, blah, blah, blah...) I wish I had just been able to leave the poor kid alone. It would have saved a lot of frustration for everyone.
__________________
Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. -1 Thessalonians 5:21
Heliotropium
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Cay Gibson
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 16 2005
Location: Louisiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5193
|
| Posted: Jan 21 2008 at 9:12am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Dear Dawn,
I thought this blog post by Kim Fry might help a bit. It helps me keep my perspective when we're having a bad day:
Teaching Through Example
"We can be expert lesson planners. We can instruct til we are blue in the face. In the end they watch more than they listen."
I'll be praying for you and yours.
__________________
Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
Cajun Cottage Under the Oaks
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Dawnie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 30 2005
Location: Kansas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 841
|
| Posted: Jan 21 2008 at 10:34am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Hey Dawn!
I really like LSFLF and I'm using it for the second time now. But if it didn't seem to be a good fit for one of my kids, I'd switch to something else in a heartbeat.
I'll second what someone else said about the print being small in the CHC materials. That was a problem for my oldest daughter, too. We did a lot of work w/ word families using magnetic letters on the fridge or on a cookie sheet. I would put "at" (or some other word ending) on the cookie sheet, then dd would substitute different consonants in front of the "at" and sound the word out. We played "The Name Game" (on the back of the LSFLF readers) this way A LOT instead of writing the consonants in on the page.
I got frustrated with my oldest daughter in the beginning a lot, too. I often thought that she just wasn't trying. I also felt a lot of pressure to teach her to read in order to "prove" to unsupportive family members that homeschooling really worked. She did learn to read, in fact she's a bookworm now. I just brought home a whole bunch of books about horses from the library and she's read almost all of them already (and they're short chapter books!). Now that I've seen how the reading process works, I think I'm a lot more patient with my second daughter. She is a very active 5 year old and doesn't much like to sit down for very long for reading lessons. That's okay. I know she'll read eventually. We'll keep moving forward, a little bit at a time, I'll keep reading good literature to her, and she will learn how to read.
One more thing I'd like to suggest is stopping the lesson BEFORE your son starts to get frustrated. That way, the lesson ends on a positive note. Once you find a length of time that he can comfortably work for (and that might only be 5 min. right now), just do that and then g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y extend the length of the lesson. Our advisor at STAA told me that most 5 year old's attention spans are really only 7-10 min. long.
Dawn (in Wichita )
__________________
Mom to Mary Beth (99), Anna (02), Lucia (04), Clara (06), and Adelaide Victoria (2/28/09)
Visit my blog!Water Into Wine:Vino Per Tutto!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
dawn2006
Forum Pro
Joined: Aug 07 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 267
|
| Posted: Jan 25 2008 at 3:04pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thank you all again for your advice. This week we've been doing phonics with magentic letters and cookie sheets. All three of the kids are playing with them while we do 'school'. My oldest makes nonsense words for me to sound out and then it's my turn to make a real word for him to sound out.
For math we've been doing counting bears and it's the same: the younger two play with them (counting & sorting) while my older one makes problems for me to add/subtract and then I take my turn for him.
The Three R's book has also calmed me down a lot. I love it and recommend it.
I've also been snapping at my dh a lot. I've decided it's all b/c I'm just so nervous about the new baby coming in a few weeks I"m taking the time upfront to lecture and get mad at everyone in the hopes they will do exactly as I'd like when the baby arrives. Yes, I am an idiot. 
__________________
Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JuliaT
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 25 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 563
|
| Posted: Jan 26 2008 at 9:59am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Dawn, I have been reading this thread from the beginning. Your latest post has prompted me to reply. I wanted to recommend the book Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye. Now, I don't have this particular book (I ordered it on Thurs. so it should be here soon) but I have her Games for Math book and I absolutely love it. She offers games from that span from K to Gr.3. I would think the reading book would have the same layout.
Your son has probably just hit a wall with reading. He needs some down time with doing what you are doing now and doing some fun things with reading for awhile. In a month or maybe longer, try again with the reader and see how he does. What you don't want is to cause angst in him when he reads, cause this will mess things up for him and you as he gets older.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3 (8,7,5)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
dawn2006
Forum Pro
Joined: Aug 07 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 267
|
| Posted: April 17 2008 at 1:43pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Things have been going better for us. I posted this on another forum I belong to locally where there are few homeschoolers but several moms with young kids that are interested. So, this was meant to be informational for them but I don't think will be much new info to ya'll here. BUT, ya'll helped me feel better about things w/your suggestions so I just wanted to share:
Quote:
1. Forming Letters I give Gabriel a sheet of paper with all the letters written on them. I then give him a gridded piece of paper made up of squares formed by horizontal and vertical lines all up and down the paper. He chooses two letters to practice and fills in one row for each letter. (I got the gridded paper idea from a Montessori book.)
2. Doing math curriculum We just started MathUSee. I set the timer for 10 minutes and just have him work through as much of the lesson as he can. I redirect him when I see him starting to color or play on the page. The short time span helps him concentrate more thoroughly than an open-ended one. After 10 minutes he is done for the day with math. (I got this idea from reading up on Charlotte Mason.)
3. Religion I read stories or whatnot during meals.
4. Sounding out words Magnetic letters stuck on cookie sheets; Boggle, Jr.; spelling words for him to read in shaving cream on cookie sheet; games from Games for Reading.
HTH anyone looking for simple ideas.
ETA: It helps a lot if I let Gabriel be the 'teacher' first when we are sounding out words. I let him spell a word for me and then I sound it out. It's usually some really long nonsense word. I'll let him do this for a bit and then I'll say "OK, my turn." and give him a word to spell out.
ETA again: We also watch these Leap Frog videos a lot. Daniel and Elizabeth pick up a lot from these. |
|
|
__________________
Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
dawn2006
Forum Pro
Joined: Aug 07 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 267
|
| Posted: Dec 10 2008 at 1:30am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I always remember making this post and I can't believe it's been almost a year since the OP. Things are going very well. I learn so much searching through old threads. We do a group time of read-alouds, in the AM, for religion, science, and social studies. I put up world and US maps and a timeline. Later I do table time with my first grader for math, phonics, and grammar while the littler ones do their shoebox-type activities.
It's so funny how plans change, though, once you've become settled in them. The baby that was previously content with just roaming the house now wants into the trash and DVDs and electronics and such so I'm much more on the go than before. Whew.
__________________
Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Willa
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3881
|
| Posted: Dec 10 2008 at 9:50am | IP Logged
|
|
|
That's so neat that you updated your old thread, Dawn. It sounds like you've found a nice rhythm. ... subject to flexing of course as babies grow into toddlers and preschoolers!
__________________
AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Yelling & crying going on all of a sudden
