My thoughts on reading....

I read an article on reading site word damage, which for me made so much sense, and let me tell you why.

James is a really bright kid, and is so ready to learn and take in everything. For a while I had him in a Pre-K class. I think this was a good thing for one reason, James got to see that a class room setting was not for him. He came home one day and annoucned that he hated school, and yes those were his words... hated school. {he wasn't aloud to ask questions, or explore other ideas that he had. He would not be allowed to go outside if he didn't finish his work... he was in Pre-K}

Anyway, while he was in school he was asked to learn his site words, which he did and were really easy for him. His memory is incredible for a kid his age.

He soon learn to memorize many words and was on his way to reading. Only he had a really hard time sounding out words. He learned easy words like dog, cat, and rub {even that took some time}. But as he was learning the different rules he really struggled with reading. A lot of practice and a lot reading later he is doing well and reading above his grade level.

Now Tommy.... he really just came to me one day and sat down and started reading. He taught himself to read by listening to what I was teaching James and learning to sound out words by himself.

I really think that because Tommy didn't rely on memorizing. He learned to read all the words and not look ahead for the words he already knows.

I'm not sure if I made any sense, but after I read that article, and seeing my two boys and the way they learned how to read it made sense to me.



On anther note I won't be buying anything like Hooked on Phonics or anything else like that. I truly think that the best way to teach your kids how to read is to read to them. Teach them the letters and what they say. Teach them to sound out words, and all this can be done with the books that you have at home. No fancy anything, just plain books.

Sewing

I think the boys should learn all things a be as well rounded as possible. So we dipped our hands in sewing.

Right now we are just paper and yarn but I think this is something that we are going to step up.

It was fun watching the boys concentrate so hard in what they where doing, and watching their fine motor skills become more refine.

Rainy Day Reading

We got up on Thursday and had to take the dog to the vet. When we were done it was raining, so we decided to go to the library and get some new books. When we finally made it home it was pouring outside.

Since we are so close to our vacation and the we had finished our units that we are on, we just hunkered down and read the rest of the day away.

I love seeing the mess of books on the floor.No TV, just the sound of the rain outside. I love hearing the boys read to me and I enjoy reading to them.

And I love seeing the boys just sitting and enjoying books.

This is the nice part of homeschooling, we can enjoy a day of reading without feeling the pressure of homework.

A little bit.

I love watching the boys work together, it makes me happy.

They are putting together a puzzle of "Water Lily's" by Claude Monet. These puzzles are so fun, and they really let the boys see art work up close. I hope the boys develop a better appreciation for artwork than I have.

This week we decided to work together to make butter. {like the "Little Red Hen" friends didn't want to} and we found that many hands make light work.

We got to taste our work after we were done shaking. Well worth the work that we it took.

I really like doing things hands on and I need to work harder to find things like that.

I thought I would give you a peek at a couple little things that we have done.

Dr. Seuss's Day

We interrupt our regular scheduled week to celebrate the birth of a man who had no children {in fact they frighten him} but he made many children happy with his words and rhymes.

The day started with a breakfast of "Green Eggs and Ham" and we found that Sam's friend does -infact- like them. {funny note... did you know that there are only 49 different words in this book? He had a friend bet him that he couldn't write a book with less than 50 different words, well he did and what a great book.... the first 300 times, it gets old after that}

We read the "Foot Book" and looked at all our feet, and the different feet we meet.

We had a frankfurter roast with a marshmallow toast, and decided that all Sneetches were the best on the beaches.

Sang "Happy Birthday" to an author that was truly great.

And finished the day with the Oobleck. Which we are not quite sure what the Oobleck is but it was a lot of fun to play with.

Thank you Dr. Seuss for all the books that you have written and helping to foster the love of reading that my boys have. Letting them dream about all sorts of crazy creatures, and knowing that the places they can get to is as far as they want to go.

Family Reading

I was finding it hard to find a quiet time during the day for the boys to read, and then one day it happened.... The boys were being crazy and it was too cold to send them outside to run off their energy {never mind that it was dark....} so I told every boy to get a book. I sent Tommy in with dad, put James on one side of the couch and sat with Tim on the other told the boys to read there books and sit still. Not the most conventional way to start a good reading habit but there you have it. I was always reading to them we just didn't have a designate time when we did it, so there were days that we didn't do any reading.

What it has turned into.... is something wonderful!!! It's great to see them sitting with books in their laps. I now read a couple books out loud and then we have a semi quiet reading time... {they still read out loud so it's funny to listen to James and Tommy reading different books}

Can you believe he is in kindergarten and reading this??? I read Flat Stanley to the boys and James liked it so much he wanted to read it again... so he did. {i have a feeling this wouldn't have happen if he wasn't home schooled... here there are no restrictions to what he can read, even if it's not his grade level.}