Can't I freak out without sounding like I'm braging?

[Guest RueBellevue]

I'm new to this discussion, and am coming at it from a BTDT perspective. I am on the forum discuss and research advice on a loose phonics/spelling approach to fix the problems being discussed in this thread. All 4 of my children are accelerated learners/thinkers which has taught me to truly relax. I've been aggressively comparing curricula in every subject area, but all discussions keep reminding me that home education is THE best education for young children when their individual learning paces are so unique.  We can tweak at home. Getting your research done at the front end is critical - but making adjustments along the way is inevitable and with God's grace, can be absorbed without pain.

 

Regarding reading, spelling and phonics specifically, I followed A Beka charts (because I know them by heart), Starfall, along with a few impulsive mulit-sensory tools/games we employ as we read good books and later employed Spelling Plus.  These methods were fine because my children are self starters and strong learners. BUT.... now for the pitfall of following a curriculum for language arts - and not being truly classical regarding phonics: my oldest 2 (12 yrs & 10 yrs) sons are slipping in their spelling! I KNEW this would happen, but I was too afraid to rely on classical techniques like Five In A Row (and, quite frankly, too lazy to read the book and take responsibility).

 

The book that my mother passed on from her home schooling was The ABC's and All their Tricks by M. Bishop, and it is brilliant in its approach to phonics: it's like using the dictionary as your curriculum source - how logical is that?!  It does the same thing as WRTR, 4th ed. and SWR which are more comprehensive in their approach to introducing language arts to young children. 

 

I am not trying to sell you on what I'm only recently turning to, but instead sharing what I've learned (mistakes from my own). I plan to employ the 70 phonogram cards (of SWR) and spelling rules to re-teach the most basic phonogram sounds to my oldest children (it's research is quite convincing) and to utilize this approach for my younger 2 as they are being introduced introducing themselves to language arts and reading! (My youngest reader is 6 and my baby is almost 2.)  It is a beautiful thing to fix and readjust for 4 bright children all at once - not easy, but quite rewarding! 

 

^_^ Keep praying for good advice, a gracious love for teaching, and open eyes and heart for seeing what your children need to continue to love learning! The love of learning is what you are after - and concentrating on praying for the right phonics/language arts curriculum to give the strong foundation necessary is understandable!

[Donna]

My dd memorized books, every book read to her starting at 11 months. I know she read and spelled CVC words before she turned 3 (not sure exactly what she was reading book-wise and what she was memorizing except that she could take bathtub letters and spell new words then read them to me). She seemed to take a break with no interest in reading herself (just wanting to be read to) then one day at 3.5yo she said it was her turn to read and she fluently read a page of the book I had been reading to her, Little House in the BIg Woods. No sounding out or pausing over words. 

 

She is a natural speller as well. She has rarely spelled a word incorrectly....those occasional times she does it is a very irregular word. I did Spelling Power with her for 2 years when she turned 5, mostly for my own piece of mind that she knew how to spell and for phonics rules, and she went through all the levels so we stopped doing formal spelling.

 

I remember that overwhelming feeling of responsibility and wanting answers or someone to talk to and bounce ideas off. It is rather isolating to have no one IRL to share those types of things with. Once I realized there was no hurry, she would let me know what she needed to learn and when, and there would often be new things she'd do to "freak" me out, I stopped worrying so much and learned to go with the flow.

 

I was just telling a friend the other day that I hadn't had one of those shock moments in a long time (months, maybe years) and had grown to sort of "expect" her to do little things that surprise me...then last week she did something brand new with her music and there I was feeling like I had no idea what the child is capable of even though I am with her every day.

[go_go_gadget]

My ds also first read at just before 3. But his interest for the next 2 years was in fits and spurts. My advice to you is:

 

1) Do NOT force him to continue on a linear path. Expect him to take a month or even 6 months off.

 

2) Check his pronunciation of words in his every day speech. My son had difficulty pronouncing many sounds when he was young, and by reading at a young age he mapped letters to sounds he was mispronouncing. This obviously affected his spelling. :001_huh:

 

 

This. He may not make another jump for quite a while, or he could keep jumping without your input. Either way, all you need to do at this stage is make sure he doesn't habitually mis-read, and leave it at that. I wouldn't provide direct instruction to a very young child unless the child himself *really* wanted it, and could listen to a short lesson without much frustration. Really, though, I'd be quite reluctant.