How I Taught My Son to Read

As a homeschooling Mama- no task seemed so great, no obstacle more large then the dreaded one of teaching your child to read.  Seriously, how does one teach someone how to read? How?? I was really stumped on this one.  My smart 6 year old was entering 1st Grade and I thought- for sure, this is the year! He's going to learn to read!  Ha!  Was I wrong!

First, we used super, super easy readers from Barron's Reader's Clubhouse.  They were a gift given to William from a wonderful friend and included all the books in all 3 levels.  Exhausting- but a great starter and sadly, I would recommend them.  Perfect for the kid who is not quite ready for Scholastic level 1.  Click here  to order from Amazon if you so choose.  Let's face it though- they are no literary works of art.  In fact, I'm pretty sure Lucky Dog & Buddy Boy could read these things!  Dan the Ant...Dan the Ant likes to eat.  Dan the Ant likes to eat food.  Oh, Dan-what silly antics you have in pursuit of your yummy snack.  And let's not forget, Nick is Sick, Parade Day and Joe Boat.  What masterpieces await you!

William mastered that playful and silly Dan the Ant.  Level 1- done.  Gah only 2 more to go!  Over the course of the entire school year, William read each book in these simple readers, slowly and painfully moving ahead to the next level.  Until finally one day, level 3 wasn't as difficult.  He was ready for....wait for it...wait for it.....Scholastic Level 1.  Ugh, back at Level 1.  Again.  Parents, let me just tell you that teaching your child to read is by far, the most gruelling, patience testing process ever invented.  During that year, I pushed and I pushed. If I could will my child to learn to read- I was that determined.  I exercised more patience then I thought possible & engaged in a fierce battle of wits with William.  The more I wanted him to read, the more he fought me.

So it should come as no surprise that by summer time, we had both had enough.  I said- I give up.  I give up! There you have it, I confess....I totally gave up.  For a while that is & so we decided to take the summer off.  It was blissful, it was calm & it eventually had to come to an end.  By the time August rolled around, I was making myself crazy trying to figure out what in the world I was going to do.  I could NOT have a 2nd grader who couldn't read! Surely that would make me the World's Worst Homeschooling Mom, right?  I'm mean really- there has got to be a judge and jury just waiting in the wings to convict me of my crimes against homeschooling.  No?  Hmmm...maybe not.  So back to the month of August-  I did something I'm not entirely proud of, although it was a genius idea. <Insert evil laugh here>  I said, "William, you know you're entering 2nd grade and all your friends will know how to read.  Don't you want to know how to read to?"  Ohh- I did it, I totally guilted my child into learning to read.  If that doesn't make me win the title of World's Worst Mom, I don't know what will.  Eh- who cares.  I did what I had to and it worked.

If was after that, that William decided he was finally ready to become a reader.  I thought perhaps we should take on a different approach then before in the hopes that this might do the trick.  Each day, William sat down for 20 minutes in any book of his choice (although I made sure to have plenty readers available) and he read quietly.  The first week I stayed close by and was on hand to answer all his questions.  "Mom, what does a-n-d spell? T-h-i-n-g-s? How about d-o-o-r?" And on and on it went.  Grueling.  Exhausting.  Endless.  But you know what- with each week, he asked me less and less.  And then a funny thing happened, he just started reading.  All by himself.  He did it!! I did it!! WE DID IT!!!!!!!!  My son was now a reader!  Oh thank the heavens! Break out the happy dance, I don't totally suck at this homeschooling business!

Now I look back on the last year and can't believe that he's only been reading on his own for just one year.  He's come so far and it's truly amazing to think- we did this.  William and I- we freaking killed it!  Learn to read? Challenge Accepted.  Challenge Concurred.  You'll notice I say that we did it.  I tried my very best, but it wasn't until William decided that he was ready, that everything finally clicked.  I trusted him and I gave him the freedom to accomplish this task.  Imagine what would have happened if I kept pushing him?  Nothing pleasant I can tell you that!


William reading for FUN!

I've been blessed with a boy who loves to read.  His current favorites are the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, he's finished book #6 and we need to go buy #7.  There were rumors of more books in the series- so he's pumped about that.  He also likes  The Boxcar Children series and anything about Lego.  He's signed up for the free Lego magazine and devours that each time it arrives in the mailbox.  He also just started reading Harry Potter- a little advanced for him but I'm happy he's reaching & pushing himself.  William continues to read quietly each day, except now he's up to 40 minutes per day and next Fall, we will increase that to 60 minutes each day.  I could NOT have imagined a better outcome then this and I'm so proud of both of us.

This is how I taught my son to read.  You Go Homeschooling Mama- you got this!

Summer Homeschooling

Schools Out for Summer!!!  Oh wait- we homeschool year round.  Ack!  You do what?!?  Seems like even in the homeschool community we are freaks.  Oh well, what else is new?

We are currently in our week long "detox" from school.  William is pretty much doing whatever he wants while I am finishing up my first week at my new job.  Thankfully it's a work from home thing (yes, there are a very small amount of legit ones!) so I can be home with William while he explores his FREEDOM!  This week he and Buddy Dog have been digging holes all over my backyard. 


The start of the cavern

Which has only succeeded in making the hubby extremely pissed.  An angry husband battling the "man-cold" is not fun.  Pray for me folks!  So with that, William & Buddy Dog have decided to focus their digging efforts on one large dirt pile.  Currently we have the mini cavern, complete with kiddie pool roof.  Excellent creativity my child, excellent!

In addition to starting my new jobby-job, I have been putting together our summer schedule.  Let me first just say that I love schedules.  I love everything about them!  Writing them down on paper, crossing things off when I've done them, highlighting the most important items, making a to-do list and so on and so forth.  Weird, huh.  Oh well, I'm over it.

We are eclectic homeschoolers which simply means that I pull William's curriculum from many different places.  During the school year he attends Edmonds Heights a couple days per week.  This year his classes included metal arts, pottery, marital arts, science, math, musical theater and a drop in open lego lab.  Fun, fun and fun!  William also participated in the Homeschool Swim & Gym class at our local YMCA, he loved it!  And let's not forget soccer and the weekly trips to the library.  For his bookwork at home, we use Scholastic grade level workbooks that I bought from Costco.  Yep, Costco.  I freakin' love Costco for workbooks!

$6.99 at Costco!!!!

Buddy Dog loves helping William with his workbooks

                                                                                       I keep several workbooks in a cute basket on my kitchen bar and he spends 40 minutes per day in the workbook of his choice.  Sometimes he likes to do all math problems, other times it's reading comprehension- but the point is that William picks what he wants to learn.  Finally, each day William is required to spend 40 minutes reading quietly.  He is currently working his way through the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and has been known to spend an entire afternoon finishing a whole book.  Yay for a child that enjoys reading!!!
So that's just a bit of what our "normal" school schedule looks like.  How does our summer schedule differ from our school year schedule?  Well....I'll tell you!

William is still required to complete his 40 minutes of workbook time and his 40 minutes of daily quiet reading.  But that's pretty much where the strict schedule ends.  This year I've found a wonderful schedule plan from Pinterist.  Ah, how I love me some Pinterist!  I'm currently working on figuring out how to adapt this great summer plan to our homeschooling life.

• Monday is Make Something Monday.  Think crafts, recipes, homemade playdoh etc.
• Tuesday is Take a Trip Tuesday.  Anything from taking a trip to the farmer's market, going to the movies or even down the street to the park.  
• Wednesday is Wet & Wild Wednesday.  The water park, local pool, or even your backyard kiddie pool and sprinkler.
• Thursday is Thinking Thursday.  This day is for science experiments, fun projects, math games or even trips to museums or the library.
• Friday is Free Day Friday.  Freedom, freedom, freedom to do whatever you please.

In addition to this schedule, I want to take advantage of some great summer programs offered in my area.  Do you know about the $1 movies at Regal Cinemas?  How about the fun summer programs offered through your local library?  And let's not forget that many museums offer free days.  FREE days!!!  Whew! This summer is shaping up to be BUSY and I still have to find time to actually work.

What will you be doing this summer?  Lazy days poolside? Summer camps, vacations?  If you're a homeschooler or even if you're not- I encourage you to use this summer break to your fullest advantage.  Summer is a time for creative play, imaginative learning and fun, summer activities.  Watch out summer- here we come!