Letter burn out

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by mommy2thegang, Feb 5, 2015.

  1. mommy2thegang

    mommy2thegang Member

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    My son will be 7 in June. I am so frustrated and not sure what I am doing wrong. He doesn't seem to grasp letters or sounds. I can show him 6 letters and he can pick out what letter I ask for. If I ask him what a letter is by itself he gets it wrong. He hates teach your child to read. I even bought a kindle fire. Everyday he does alphabet puzzles on the fire. When he puts them together I have him repeat me back the letter after it tells him. He can pick sight words out from other sight words. It is the same thing though. If the word is by itself he has no clue what it is. What am I missing?
     
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  3. Lindina

    Lindina Active Member

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    Different kids are ready at different times. I'm not saying he's not ready, but maybe he's not ready.
    I used to work in public school, evaluating kids to see if they had special needs or not. I wish I had a dollar for every little boy who was referred to me who couldn't seem to learn to read, but by (say) 8 1/2, suddenly they "got" reading. Nothing really wrong, they were just on a different timetable. LOTS of them. I'm not saying to quit - just to keep trying patiently.

    I tried Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, and we both hated it. I've heard that Leap Frog is quite helpful, dvd and other stuff. Starfall.com may be more appealing than 100 EZ - there's a free part and a subscription part, with colorful animations (my grandson loved Z and watched it over and over ... and over). You can have him write letters with his fingers in a tray of sand or rice or with sidewalk chalk outside or whiteboard/markers. Focus on only one or two letters at a time, and review often. Work about 10-15 minutes, several times a day, rather than one big long lesson.

    I'm sure others will jump in with their suggestions too.
     
  4. 2littleboys

    2littleboys Moderator

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    I HATED the 100EZ book!! My kids loved LeapFrog videos for learning their letters and sounds, and they loved both Starfall & Explode the Code for learning to put words together.
     
  5. ochumgache

    ochumgache Active Member

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    I found Explode the Code helpful for my boys. I used the online version for my oldest son; it took him years to complete the program, but it was great, because it just kept going over the same lesson until he mastered it. He got to go at his own speed, and he made progress...painfully slow progress, but it was progress and eventually he became a willing and competent reader. For my younger son, however, he did not like the online version. He prefers the workbooks; he got distracted when doing it on the computer.

    I agree with Lindina...kids set their own time tables. Just look for progress even if it's not as fast as you might like or as fast as others might say is "normal." "Normal" is a made-up measurement.
     
  6. mommy2thegang

    mommy2thegang Member

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    Thanks ! This morning we did our letters with play dough and bottle caps. I think it helps when he touches the letter. :)
     
  7. mom4girls

    mom4girls Member

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    My kids love leapfrog but he might be a bit old for it?
     
  8. Lindina

    Lindina Active Member

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    I don't know about " a bit old". My grandson is 9 and he still loves Veggie Tales, MonsterTruck Adventures, Paw Patrol, and Miss Spider...
     
  9. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    Some kids aren't "ready" until they're older. AND THAT'S OK!!!

    First, I would get (or make!) some letter flash cards. Make sure they have a picture on them. If you make them yourself, you can use more "relevant" pictures! For example, use your own picture on the "M" (for Mommy) card, and his picture on the card for his name, any pets/siblings with the initial letter of their nams, etc.) Super easy to print the pictures using Word, then cut them out and glue them on index cards. You can either start with just a few, maybe five that are most relevant to him (like names), and adding a few more each week. Just go through them quickly a few times each day. You may want to keep a chart of which ones he knows. If you decide to do them all at once, make a pile of the right and wrong ones, and then graph the results. Draw a red line at your goal; say, at 23. If he reaches 23 correct for three days in a row, he gets to go for ice cream, or gets something from the Dollar Store or something. And as you graph it, he can see how it's getting closer and closer to his goal. (I had a special needs kid in my class I did that with. His mom came home from Parent Conference, and the first thing he asked her was, "Did Mrs. K show you how I'm almost at my line?" :) )

    Do lots of alphabet art. You can find plenty on-line. Make a giant M and cover it with macaroni. And sort M&M candies. And make a monkey collage. Keep it lots of fun!

    We also "wrote" books with my youngest. Take your paper and cut it in half length-wise. Fold these in half for as many pages as you want, and glue them at the fold. Go again to your Word program, and print out lots of pictures that start with the target letter from Clip Art. "Phillp's M Book" would have a monkey, a mouse, milk, moose, Mommy, his brother Mike, music, etc., gluing one on each page. You can have him write the word, trace the word, write just the target letter, or however you wish, according to his abilities. Later, you can move on to Word Families... "...AT Book", with a bat, hat, rat mat, spat, etc.

    The most important thing is to read, read, read a lot EVELRY DAY. Read picture books, read longer chapter books (he can color or do LEGOS if he needs to be doing something while you read aloud), and find easy books that he can "read" to you. I REALLY like a series, I think they are called "Real Kid Readers"...? Your librarian will be your best friend with that!

    But try to keep it fun. Try hard not to frustrate him, or he'll be convinced that reading is a "chore", and he "can't" do it. Then that attitude with stick with him and your job will be twice as hard for the next several years!
     
  10. mommy2thegang

    mommy2thegang Member

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    Thank you for all the tips . :)
     

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