Friday, February 13

Little reader

We are loving our reading book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." We started seven or eight months ago- right before Mia turned three. She knew her capital letters, and some of the lowercase, but had no idea what sounds any of them made. The book uses the SRA DISTAR method (basically phonetics,) and gives you absolutely everything you need to teach your kid. There's a script for parents to read for each little step, and tips on how to encourage and correct as you go.
We've had a lot of ups and downs, as we have learned to be patient with each other. For a while, we butted heads because she didn't want to be corrected the wrong way, and I was using the word "no," which killed the buzz every time. We fought our way to lesson 78 and came to a standstill. No treat was good enough to get her excited to read. So we went back to 47 and started over. Her confidence skyrocketed, and I was free to concentrate more on my teaching than her reading. Things that we really struggled with the first time through took a fraction of the time. Finally I got into the habit of just "hmm"ing when I needed to stop her, which morphed into "try again," a phrase she responds to really well. Lesson 78 found a much happier, more willing, and more capable Mia the second time around. And a much less frustrated me. This was lesson 82.
I think accomplishing this together has really been good for us. It's definitely reinforced my desire to "home"school. We are learning so much more than how to read!
The book is out of print, but copies are everywhere online- we got ours used for seven bucks!
Did I just say "bucks"?! How unladylike. ;D

9 comments:

The Garber Family said...

I think she's a GENIUS! And I thought Hannah was fast at learning to read. I think you'll be a great home-school teacher!

Erika said...

Huh, I've never heard of that. I just reserved it from the library! Thanks!

cari said...

Wow- I'm way impressed. You've inspired me.

Ally said...

Awesome! :-)

I'm so glad you've liked the book. We finished with it a few months ago, but getting Princess to read other books hasn't been going that well.

So we're using the Explode the Code series of workbooks (which she loves!) as well as the simple, easy-to-build-confidence Bob Books, to hopefully build her up in her ability to read 'freestyle' outside of the structured lessons.

Way to go on following your gut to help her get past the hump! (and way to go on finding a steal of a deal on that book!) ;-)

Britney said...

What factors have made you decide to home school?

Sounds like a GREAT book. I'm going to look into it.

Britney said...

PS- How old is she??

Summer said...

I always thought homeschool was for control freaks who wanted their kids to turn out smarter than everyone else, and the price they paid was that they also turn out weirder than everyone else. But since we moved to Ohio, I've heard nothing good about the Columbus school district, and have gotten more and more convinced that being a little "weird" doesn't matter. I'd rather focus on "happy," and the things I'm watching become "normal," will never bring happiness.

I checked out "Homeschooling for Dummies" and agreed with a lot of the reasons people do it. The more I learn about homeschooling and public education, the more I think it is the best for us. What could be more awesome than learning about geographic formations by driving to them? Learning about math by starting a kiddie business?I just think I could give my kids so much more than books, a desk, and a teacher who can't "leave anyone behind."

She turned three September 13th, so exactly 3 and 5 months!

Kell's Belles said...

Hmm, what is "normal" anyway? I agree, "happy" is WAY more important. Also "educated."

Congrats on finding a good way to work with Mia. I tend to clash with my oldest over school work, too, so it's definitely a relief when you can find the right way to communicate. And I can already tell that her teenage years are going to be a blast! Woohoo!

Unknown said...

Oh my gosh!!! I can't believe it! She reads better than most kids twice her age! I think reading is in the blood for sure. All of us started reading early...but I don't think THAT early. I love it! And she says the words so clear!
The difference between you homeschooling, and others..is...tada! You aren't a freak! I think the kids that turn out socially enept are that way because their parents didn't teach them social skills along with everything else. You and Zach are too intelligent for that to happen. Plus with the three of them...those skills will be almost forced anyway. And since they still have church where they are learning and growing with friends, and you have play dates...I just don't don't think that weird socially enept"ness" will be a problem.