Read- Aloud Read-Along

Finally - read-aloud success!

The Boxcar Children was one of my favorite books. And now it's one of my kids' favorites too.

I took the advice of a homeschool mom further down the road than I, and got everyone of a copy of our read-aloud. J and O love to be read to, and it gave them a chance to follow along, and see and hear new words without the pressure of reading aloud to a group. B is very visual, so much so that he can't comprehend a story unless he reads it himself. Having his own book to follow along in worked like a charm. He enjoyed the whole book, knew the storyline, and later was re-reading parts of it to himself.

If I paused for any reason, O would jump right in reading. Her reading has improved tremendously since she began the program to address her dyslexia. It was great to hear her reading out loud with no hesitation, great inflection, and most of all, no anxiety.

What a great way to spend time together.

Cure for Homeschool Blahs

Lately I've been mulling over curricula for the fall. No one at my house seems to want to learn, and the room we use for school is bright and cheerful - but totally uninspiring. I need a BIG fresh idea for fall. Well, I found it in a book I got this weekend.

My problem is this: Our house is missing a significant portion of its wisdom gua due to a jut-out in the house plan. With no place for knowledge chi to go, of course noone wants to learn!! The solution is simple. I will place an object at the imaginary corner of the missing rectangle. A bird bath in the front yard should do nicely. Until I get one, I think I'll use that garden gnome sitting in the garage. It has a red hat, particularly good for upping the intensity, according to feng shui principles.

They should be BEGGING me to teach 'em! I'll let you know how it works.

A Good Idea

Alec and Mr. Gray

Recreation Time

Alec had a great week at VBS. His therapist, Mr. Gray, was his 1:1 helper. That attention kept Alec focused and he participated in all the activities. He listened in story time, and did the crafts himself. We were all amazed at what he CAN do if he is contained. And when he got rowdy ( usually in a large group), Mr. Gray was able to step out with him without disturbing everyone else. His teachers loved it - if he got restless during an activity, they didn't have to choose between ignoring him, or attending to him and losing the rest of the group.





A little update on his progress - for a couple of weeks now, he has been working the mouse on the computer and WRITING! Suddenly his fine motor coordination improved a notch and he has been unstoppable. Praise the LORD!

Back to It!

O and AB

The boys with friend Joseph


I have been a very baaad blogger lately.





In May things came so fast and furious I couldn't keep up. Now that things have slowed down, I'll catch up.





VBS this week was loads of fun and fellowship.





Julia had the quote of the week. When the teacher said they were going to hear a story about David and Goliath, she piped up,


"What are we going to do for fun?"





Today at Sunday school, Burke raises the bar with his comment. QB is his assistant teacher and one of his favorite people (she has chips at her house and a trampoline). QB asks Burke if he would like her to put his papers and art project in a bag. He says, "No, but I want you to leave a comment on my blog!"





She did. Thanks, QB!