Drawings on Words - Teaching the Dyslexic Child Sight Words

4 year ago, my Apple Macbook Pro just died on me.  It was a really great laptop I've had, sadly, he has to go.  It had that NVidia problem and was supposed to be covered by an Apple recall but when I brought it in one of the distributor's of Apple, they said that it was a logic board problem. Bummer! If I brought it earlier before it had the same symptoms of the NVidia issue it showed prior to completely dying out, it would have been replaced.  Fast forward to 2016, I got my old Macbook Pro's files and the 2GB memory to run my son's Macbook 1! Yeah!

As I checked with all my files, I saw several videos of the twins, our old house, our beloved dog and just way too many memories that I didn't know existed.  Then, I came upon this video of my then, 5 year old son. I recorded it using my Nokia E63 (which is btw, still alive and kicking today - I use it as my wireless landline).  So, it's one of those videos on how I taught my Dyslexic son how to read sight words.

The twins can easily process using a whole word approach (meaning, no extra visual aids needed to know a word).  The difference with a normal reader is that they can recall a word even by just looking at it in a glance - but not my Dyslexic son.  So, I've tried making up simple drawings (I am not even good with drawing) on the word, give it a sentence with the actual word on it and have my son read it. Here is the video and I hope you get ideas on how to make for yourself.

I'll be posting a blog on my DIY sight word cards which you can also do for personal use.  I made it thick enough so you can also make some drawings on it if you need to.  This also works for spelling, btw.

I am happy to say that my son was extremely Dyslexic when he was assessed at age 6. He is now 11 and is 2 grade levels up in reading. Woohoo! Indeed, early intervention is best. So, don't be in denial and delay assessment or intervention when you see that your child shows some signs of being different than his peers.  I have embraced the fact that these uniqueness are what makes my child - my own.  There is nothing wrong with being unique, they just think differently.  Some family members may or may not be supportive, but then, who cares? Only you can. Look beyond the child and remind yourself that you are the only person who can help him propel his uniqueness for his future.

DIY Math Manipulatives

My kids easily grasp and learn a concept by using manipulatives. I could just grab a box of pencils and that would instantly becomes a way to teach Math concepts.

I like Singapore Math because it teaches concepts but I also like Kumon for mastery and rote teaching. Mixing both ideas worked well for my kids.

Sharing some of my math manipulatives to you which you can easily do as well.

We learned addition with this. This has greatly helped my 5 year old math-challenged kid to understand the basic concepts of addition.

We call this our Addition Machine. Pompom balls are placed on each cup and it will sum up as it falls in the basket.

I also introduced number bonds thru our number links. I have a 5, 10 and 20 links for my kids level.

The pipe cleaners and beads are placed on each link. They will come up with different addends to come up with that number.

This gave my Kindergarteners a quick idea of the concept. Now, they  are much faster and I can soon introduce worksheets once they can fully grasp the idea.

Manipulatives can be just everyday household materials. But, if you want to buy your own, you can buy them at Hobbes & Landes, Toys R Us, Toy Kingdom, National Bookstore or Office Warehouse.

Pipe cleaners, pompom balls can be bought at Office Warehouse, Little Town Bookstore, or at Daiso.

Happy Math day!

Expect excellence with your children

I posted this on a Homeschooler's group and was surprised on the number of likes it got. My purpose, was just to share an incident and yet I felt that the message was relevant and was particularly striking for most parents, homeschoolers or not. I do not see it as my own, but I feel that it is what the Lord is trying to convey to families that we should value excellence with our children.

Sharing this on my blog and I hope that this becomes a goal for our children. To take excellence as a way of life.

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I was a terror teacher today. I had my 10 year old narrate a chapter of his reading, Doctor Dolittle, by making a drawing of a scene. He made a drawing straight to a notebook and started drawing to no more than a minute and said "I'm done!!". Quite alarmed by the manner that he has finished it, I knew there was a lesson that I had to teach right that very instant - Excellence.

I told him excellence is not perfection. Excellence is putting your heart into something and making sure that it is the best that you could do on the task given to you. I asked him, "Is this your most excellent work?" He said, "no".

He was very upset when I told him that his work is not acceptable and I cannot ask him to use it for his narration. I had to literally tell him to drop all his other tasks for the day and make an EXCELLENT (not perfect) narration of the topic. Quite emotional but still focused on his work, he proudly showed me the other picture after an hour. Nothing too fancy really, but I was impressed as to how he added elements such as aluminum foil, construction paper and how excited he was when he showed me what he did. He was very proud of his own work as well.

I guess as homeschoolers, we can sometimes feel that we just have to go thru the day and tick off the things we need to finish for that day disregarding this precious value. But, if we value excellence and not mediocrity, we can see this reflected in our child as they grow. They will reflect the heart of our Father in heaven, for He is excellent in all His creation. So, yes - being a loving "terror" teacher could sometimes be necessary. #sorrylongpost #justsharing

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By the way, this conversation with my 10 year old also made an impression with his 5 year old younger sisters who heard about it.  My preschoolers were doing a copywork material which they despise. But, after they heard the lesson I spoke about with their big brother, their copywork were surprisingly excellent too!

Seeing this, I would rather prioritise and focus on good values over advancing leaps of academic advancement.

Teaching Adjectives!

A simple and fun activity from a book we follow that even 10 year old can join in.

"The Doctor's Cat"

My kids had a lot of fun thinking of some creative adjectives about the Doctor's Cat!  I gently introduced Nouns and Adjectives to my 5 year old and I am quite sure that my 10 year old will never forget that Adjectives describe a Noun.

How do you start?

Materials:

• Whiteboard and Markers (A notebook and a pen is okay) - to list the adjectives the kids could think of.
  
  For creatively sketching the Doctor's Cat:
• Drawing paper
• Coloring tools (crayons, colored pens, etc)

Directions:

1. Just do the sample activity from the book, Language and Thinking for Young Children - The Doctor's Cat.  Or, you can try out a sample of the activity on the photo above.
2. Start listing the adjectives on the board (for my 10 year old, I asked a more challenging task for him by memorizing all the adjectives that we have listed, or just let them read each list as written).  You can begin with some funny words, my kids laughed at "cranky, silly, chubby, fatty, banana-eating" (my 5 year old invented that word).  Just keep the ball rolling and guide them by asking your reluctant child what she thinks of the hair, color of the fur, etc.  Encourage creative thinking and be silly as well.
3. After coming up with a list, dictate it to them and ask them to imagine what this cat looks like.  Then, give them some paper and color to draw the cat.
4. Share your drawings to each other and let them explain their drawing.
5. Laugh to your hear't content.

Encourage them to draw the Cat based on the list of adjectives

Let them share their work!

There are so many ideas here and it is by itself a complete curriculum for pre-schoolers and you can even tailor fit it to older kids which I just did so on this activity.

Some of our school room rules: Clean as you go.

Always make a rule on your school room - Clean as you go.  Teach your child to clean up their own tables, by themselves.  For my kids, I assign one child to be a checker of the week/month  That child is responsible to check that all items are on the proper places, chairs neatly in place,  all trash in the trash bin, lights and fans are off.

A new name to our adventures!

My blog started when I was pregnant with my twins. All I wanted was to make a journal of my twin pregnancy.

But, the Lord inspired me to share his blessings to me by sharing stories of my life from a once full time working mom to a now, homeschooling and work at home mom.

My kids are now 10 and an incoming 4th grader and my twins girls are now 5.5.  I have been home educating my kids when my twins were born. We started with Tot School and now they are going to 1st grade.

I changed my blog's name to Learn In Grace because it has always been my prayer and every parent's prayer for their children, whether they are homeschooled or not, is that they will forever learn in Grace.

Allow me to share my heart (and occasionally some downloadable freebies)!

Our Homeschool Room

I have started Tot School when my twins were 10 months old. Our unstructured school were mostly a mix of literature-based (chosen books from Sonlight and Before Five in A Row) and Montessori-based teaching.

All 3 of my kids love school. School for them is as exciting as going to the beach. My 5 year old begged to do her Math worksheets on a Sunday!  I am very pleased with their love in learning and I would do everything to instill that. 

I am quite sure, that, aside from the daily read alouds, an interest-based learning, and a good curriculum, the way their playroom and learning centers were organized played a big factor for their love of learning.  

Our homeschool room used to be in our living room.  Our coffee table was just the perfect size for 2-year old kids.

Tot school + Preschooler combined.

I remembered our 1st box day, 5 years ago.  My son eagerly waited as the Fedex van dropped off his box of school items from Sonlight.

The learning center is setup in such a way where they can easily get any book, scissors, own sticky tapes, glue, paper, coloring materials, even punchers or stamps and stickers all they want!

They have a separate play area where I would occasionally add toys based on their age level.

This was our Tot School Shelf when my twins were a year old.  All the materials were readily available for them.  Sharp items are kept above.  They are just free to grab and get items from this shelf.  They also know how to put them back after.

When they were 2.5, we moved to a new house where we had a family hall on the 2nd floor .  There, we moved our school area and we found it to be more conducive for learning. This is a picture of my twins, lining up sticks on the floor.

My 3 year old Callista fell in love with art and painting.  She knows where all the materials are kept, she gets her brushes and paint, and cleans up after she's done with them.  I need not tell them to clean up, as they all know that it is our rule to clean up after school.

These is the setup of our Nursery-Pre K level.  Age appropriate materials are readily available for my preschoolers.  Even my then, 1st grader loved this place.

When my twins turned 4 and they are now in Pre-K, we focused on reading areas.  It is good to move into a room that is far from the dining area or kitchen as it keeps the kids from being distracted from the noise in the kitchen when my helper is preparing for our lunch.

Now, my twins are getting into K and 1st grade.  My son gearing up for 4th grade.  We have outgrown this place and moving onto a new school room.

Now, we are onto the bigger and brighter space!

My 4th grader's own office.  My twins' learning center still on the center.

This used to be my twins' playroom which we converted to their school room.  They didn't mind much about this, they said that they love that they can do many things in their room than just toys.  *We just moved their playroom in a separate area of the house.

I do not want to box them here inside. I am sure, when school starts, we would be all over the house reading our read alouds, or seeing my 5 year old twins tumbling on the sofa in the living room during our discussions.

We started in a living room area of the house and just saved off, collected educational items and repainted some shelves and even upcycling chairs.  A schoolroom doesn't need to be too elaborate, whatever works for you is good - whether it is the dining table or a small table on a side of a room!

It is indeed a pleasure to see your child learn. That look in their eyes when they learn something from you is priceless - and this is what is most important.

Words such as "Mommy! I can read now!" Or when your 2-year old begs for a book for you to read to her is precious. Those moments are days you will forever keep in your heart.

Prayers and blessings to each families, homeschoolers or not.  As long as your love for your child is felt and you give them the best you could for their education - then, you are doing your best for them best and soon, you will reap the benefits when they are grown. ☺️

Activities for 3 year old kids

My twins are now 4, I often find myself taking pictures to document the things we do.  I am amazed at the activities we have done ever since they have started to discover what their hands are able to do.

Pouring activities which teaches concentration.  Place items on a tray so you won't mind the spills.

Rainbow painting activities with milk, dishwashing detergent, some food coloring, and chopsticks

Handpainting, cutting and taping, puzzles, painting, tracing and beading activities which are relevantly common in our little homeschool.  The materials are readily available for them to grab from our shelf.

We do letter matching (using letter puzzles), clay, coloring and pattern blocks just so often!

This is one important random activity we do even after dinner.  It is just making use of any toy with the alphabets and a letter flash card.

One of their favorite and which improved their motor-skills is beading.

This was taken at 9PM where my girls just grabbed this lacing activity from our shelf which was just collecting dust since they were 1.5.

A letter punching activity using a paper with a letter to punch (I traced the letter of the week on it) then clipped on a mouse pad which they will punch either with a small screwdriver (precision screwdriver), or a pen would also work. 

For art, we did these pipecleaners and googly eyes puppets.

Cutting - my twins have mastered this at age 2.5.  I allow them to use scissors at 1.5 but with my supervision.  At 3.5, they can handle even sharper school scissors without my help.

We learn letters through Handwriting without Tears and Starfall.com on the iPad. 

Some of our other activities:

Letter tracing with clay!

Letter tracing with sticks!

Doing Kumon tracing.

She can do 3 pages a day of Kumon tracing.

Kumon is one of our weekly thing.

Actual writing activity by my 3.5 year old.

Hooked on Phonics flash cards!

Boggle Jr.!

Trinkets to make a letter!

There are times that they don't feel like doing anything.  So, we would take a snack break or completely stop school if they are not into it for the day or days or even weeks! I am not in a hurry anyway.

Wet-Dry-Try on the iPad and the real thing using Handwriting Without Tears.

During our letter B day!

These are some of our math, art and other sensorial activities.

We do a lot of read-alouds.  But, for younger kids, I usually allow them to do building activities as I read to them.

Lego will always be part of their lives.

Telephone!

Manila paper indoor play.  Simple drawings of star, sad face and happy faces and some coins to throw.  Even my 8 year old had fun with this activity.

Thee did clay especially during the Bible story "The Creation".  The one on the right is Eve! :D

We made snakes out of construction paper during our Bible story.

Lining up sticks is a favorite activity.

Color matching activity

They love Mighty Mind.  This is one of their favorite things to do when they wake up.  Callie here went to her room and played with it.

Still on Mighty Mind

They leave me with this after a painting session.

Melissa and Doug painting is less messy!

Sometimes, I see them doing this with the Mighty Mind can! They keep on saying "I am a robot, mom!"

To teach proper table manners, we do a tea party!

A giant craft paper makes a good tool to learn parts of the body!

Many times, my girls play dress-up.  They would pretend to be going into a snowy place or even travelling to the moon!

Most importantly, I let them experience being a kid who ca appreciate nature!  They are able to catch fireflies, touch a butterfly, play with snails, be messy and just enjoy being a kid.

These may be a lot, but we don't really have a structure.  I just follow their cue and see what they like to do.  We sing songs a lot and read books a WHOLE lot!  We memorize our memory verse each day and read the Bible too.

Manners and values are more important for them now.  It is what they will need a whole lot besides knowing how to read, count and write.  Part of their life is knowing that they are loved and that they are safe with us.

We are on Instagram and most of our activities are there too!