Hi! I'm new here. I'm currently in the middle of homeschooling my ds who is in kindergarten and my dd who is in preschool. My ds has been very easy to homeschool so far because he enjoys book work, doesn't frustrate easily and picks things up quickly. We use math-u-see, horizons phonics and sonlight core A. He loves all of it. My dd is so different that I'm lost. She is extremely smart and artistic. She has a completely different learning style, though, and I'm not sure the best way to teach her. We have gone over her letters and sounds since before she was 2 (just casually throughout the day like I did with ds) and she STILL at 4 1/2 doesn't seem to know them. (Or she will know them one day and not the next). She frustrates very easily and doesn't do well with bookwork. She seems to like it until she doesn't know something and then she completely shuts down and cries and I immediately end the session and send her to play. Because of all this, we have really just backed off of schooling altogether and I'm just casually talking about letters and their sounds as she plays throughout the day. As soon as we get serious and sit down to "do school" she cant take it and she shuts down. (We have been doing confessionsofahomeschooler k4 curriculum). She does all of our sonlight reading with us and loves it. She has a long attention span. She can sit and do an art project for an hour without an issue. Sorry for all the background info, but with all that said, I need help on where to go from here. I can't see her doing horizons phonics and I want her to LOVE school, not hate it. I plan on her doing sonlight with ds and I again next year as well as trying math u see to see how it goes. But I need a phonics program that would work for her learning style. Does anyone else have a kid like her and have you found a phonics program that works?
Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD is amazing and really helped my artsy DD. Really though, I wouldn't stress at 4 1/2.
My kids were both seemingly advanced in all subjects except reading. It was hard to imagine they could do so many other things and pick up so many facts and use them with ease, they had reasoning, math knowledge, understood social science concepts, picked up and learned history quickly, ditto science, but reading............... Anyway, I did not stress about it too much because I had read some pretty convincing research that indicated that early reading programs are not all they are cracked up to be, and that the little dabs here and there that are started in so many pre school programs might even cause a negative effect. In the "old days" when almost everyone learned to read, and well, they oft en did not even start school until 6 or 7. With both of my children, once they got it they got it quickly and made up for lost time. It seemed like one day we were struggling with phonics and a couple of month later my youngest read the entire Harry Potter series in a matter of weeks.
I second the Leapfrog DVD's. They are great. Also, Starfall.com is FABULOUS! Perfect for preschool and it's free. Reading all the alphabet books you can find with her may also help. Don't worry. She will get it when she is ready. All kids develop at their own pace.
I personally follow the better late than early idea so I didn't start formal learning with my children until they were around six, and even then we took it slow and easy. For one learning, especially reading is hard work and took a long time. For the other it came so quickly I had to scramble to keep up. Each child is SO different. We enjoyed many of the things mentioned here, especially Starfall and Leap Frog DVDs. We used Explode the Code primers Starting with Get Ready for the Code for our introduction to phonics in school work.
I think backing off and taking it easy is a good idea. The whole "standards based education" movement that has overtaken our public schools leads us to believe that children can be "standardized," but they can not. In fact, the timetable for reading that schools push on children can actually CAUSE reading problems. Creating a love for literature like you are doing will motivate her to read when she's ready. For now, Starfall.com is free, fun and low pressure. After Starfall, I like Explode the Code online. (You can get a discounted subscription through homeschoolbuyersco-op.com .) It's self-paced, and it doesn't move a child to the next level until he/she masters the material. It took my slow-developing-reader 3 years to get through the program. That's ok; he's 12 and reads a lot and reads well.
Try incorporating her love of art into writing (and saying) the alphabet/letters/phonics. Have her draw letters, numbers, and words, then draw pictures to accompany them. Make little booklets out of her creations (like "My Alphabet Book", etc.) You will both love showing off her accomplishments!
We love Leap Frog dvd's here too!!! Also if your child likes games on the computer or video games-Reading Eggs was a hit here. I have had early learners and late bloomers in my mix of kids. One son didn't really hit his stride with reading until late 3rd grade. The Reading Lesson is a great low-key reading program that doesn't take a ton of time and is not busy work heavy. Just go with the flow and pace of your child and enjoy it. I stressed my late bloomer so much and worried so much and bought every program in the book...he got there in the end and reads on grade level or above the same as his peers. This ds did go in fits and spurts like your dd...one day knowing something and the next not...but really it all clicked when he was ready and willing. Once he got interested in reading something like Star Wars books and Goosebumps books, it just all came together.
I had Phillip "write" books. We picked a letter, (B), and wrote "Phillip's B Book". I went to my word program, and looked through clip art for B pictures...bat, banana, boy, baby, ball, etc. Then I took some manila paper, cut it down to where it would fold in half to about 3x5, and glued the pages together at the fold. Then we would glue one picture on each page. He loved "reading" his book to Daddy when he came home (and the g'praents, fo course!) and the girls' piano teacher, and, and, and....) We eventually graduated to Word Family books... the "at" book, the "en" book, the "ake" book, etc.
Leap Frog DVDs…..absolutely, 100% agree. My son is an audio/visual learner. When he was younger and I was trying to teach him his letters the same way I taught my oldest, he was NOT getting it. Same frustrations you have, has it one day, loses it the next, etc. A friend gave me the Leap Frog Letter Factory for my oldest (because, you know, I was depriving her by homeschooling so at six, she must have still needed to learn her letters, never mind she was already reading by that point, I digress). Anyway, used them with my son, who was 4 at the time. Within two weeks, he knew the letters upper and lower case, knew the different sounds they made and was starting to actually put CVC words together - JUST by watching the video once a day for two weeks. I also used www.starfall.com. I just let him play, I didn't use it as "curricula". He was reading by 4 1/2 and I did NOTHING, but make those things available to him.
