Mother of 5; Homeschools 4

[ourtribe5]

Hello! I'm from Illinois. I have 5 children. I've been homeschooling for WOW! 11 YEARS! My oldest daughter was homeschooled all the way through 8th grade and decided she wanted to go on to High School. she's finishing up her Sophmore year. My 2nd oldest daughter is just now finishing up 8th grade and she wants to go to High School this next year. My 3rd daughter is finishing 4th grade, my 4th daughter is between 2nd and 3rd grade. She's doing 3rd grade math, but not doing well with reading. (She's what got me searching around for help) My youngest son, is finishing up 1st grade. My oldest is doing great in school, so I feel I did a pretty good job. Except now, I'm having a hard time teaching my 4th to read. My 5th has almost caught up to her. I was looking around and found a reading method called Ball-stick-bird method and was wondering if anyone has used it or know of anyone that uses it. I would appreciate any help! I don't know much about forums, so If I should post my question on a different thread, I'd appreciate the help! Thanks and I can't wait to get to know you all!

[Jackie]

Hello! I'm Jackie, am finishing up Year Seven with an almost-12YO, a just-turned-10YO, and a 6YO. I'm dying to hear about older grades!!!

I will jump in with your one daughter, if you don't mind!!! My one friend had a daughter like that. But some kids don't start reading until later. Her daughter didn't really start reading until she was older, but then really took off. There's those that feel kids shouldn't be formally educated until they're nine. So perhaps if you just read a lot to her and tried not to stress over it...? If you want, PM me your e-mail address and I can send it on to my friend. She might be able to help. Her daughter is now 16, and a very lovely young lady!

[sixcloar]

I have the same problem with my dd. She has a visual perceptual deficiency. (Her brain doesn't correctly process what her eyes see.) It has been a huge struggle trying to teach her to read. Here is my take on it. If she is introduced to the material, expected to do what she is capable of (not what others are capable of), and continually read to, she will get it. She may not be a good reader for several years, but she will get it. We are still doing activites to train her brain to work with her eyes. When she conquers those skills, we'll focus more on an actual reading curriculum.

I haven't heard of the method that you are talking about. Maybe someone here has? I have checked into the Scaredy Cat Reading System (www.joyceherzog.com). It gets great reviews, but I'm still deciding about whether or not I can fork out the money for it. There is a message board there where you can ask specific questions about reading struggles.

[KrisRV]

Well, Hello my name is Kris from Texas I use to live in ILL. I have been homeschooling my two dd's for 5 years now. My dd's are 13 and 11.
I want to also jump about the reading thing too. My oldest dd never like to read either I never pushed it to hard. I made her read during school but she would never read on her own until last summer she finally found some books she loves, it was series and man now I can't get her to put a book down long enough to help around the house.
What I am saying is she will pick up, just give her time. Or find something she likes to read and then find books on them. Thats how I got my oldest started. Best wishes.

[ABall]

I have 4 kids, ages 5 to 8 (twins are 8) I was born in Illinois.

We are in arizona now and have been homeschooling since the begining. Welcome. You are among quite a few new members so hope you feel comfy here. Ask questions feel free to give advice when you can.

[ourtribe5]

Thank you all for your help! I try not to worry about her not reading, but she gets really upset with herself when she thinks her younger brother reads better than her. I don't want her self esteem to get crushed.

[sixcloar]

I think my 3rd will pass my 2nd within the next year. So far, she hasn't been too down about her abilities. I try to focus on things that she does well, and at this point I try to nuture her spirit more than worrying about her reading abilities. I constantly remind her that she can do whatever everyone else does, even though she may have to work harder and longer to do it.

[Jackie]

I never thought of how she would feel to have the younger one "pass" her! When she starts to worry about it, could you explain that we ALL have strengths and weaknesses, and tell her some of the areas where she out-shines her brother? Also, tell her that with lots of perserverance, she will (probably) catch back up to him, but it will take time and patience.

[ourtribe5]

I'll keep reassuring her. She is a strong person and very determined! Thank you so much for your help! I think the only problem I'm going to have now is spending too much time on the computer! I've been having fun looking around at this website. School's never going to get done at this rate! Thank goodness school's almost over for the summer! YEAH!!!! LOL!!!

[sixcloar]

Oh, I just thought about it. We have the CD-ROM's Hop, Skip and Jump Reading and Elementary Reading software. The first one is more for emergent readers, but it still benefited my daughter, since she is behind in reading. The CD's create visual images to go with the words, that helps them remember more. My dd loves it! It keeps up with their progress, so there is no repeating lessons. We are still working on the Elementary one. It's a little more challenging for her, but helpful. If your dd likes computer games, it might help. The website to order (they are on the expensive side) is www.soundreading.com.

[AmyU]

welcome, I'm also from Illinois. I only have one son and run a home daycare. My son stuggles with reading too. When test in ps system I was told he had a visual perceptual definciency. I have been home schooling for 2.5 years. He stuggles alot with reading. I do alot of our reading and I don't push the idea. He is starting to ask to do more of the reading. He doesn't ask me to read everything for him any more. It really depends on the print and how long the reading is.
So when he ask to take over I let him. I do try to get him to read at least part of what we are doing but at times its hard. But since we left ps he has come a long way. I think he just needed the preasure off of him. Good luck and just take your time, it will all come together.

[ourtribe5]

Thanks! I'll check out that website tomorrow. I'm exhausted right now. I just got off work and I have to get up early tomorrow to homeschool, babysit, and get ready to go shopping in the afternoon with my older two, plus Tae-Kwon-Do. I'm exhausted just thinking about it! LOL!!! What am I going to do when my children are out of the house???? I better get a hobby! LOL!!! Goodnight to all!!!

[sixcloar]

AmyU,
Has your son been through Vision Therapy? My dd went through 8 months. Her fine motor skills improved, but not the other areas of visual perception. We went to college of optometry for the therapy, the doctors rotated every month. I think the turn-around was so high that the therapy didn't get as in-depth as she needed. After 8 months, the supervising doctor recommended a 6 month break and retesting in the fall.

I have found a book, Visual Percptual Skill Building, from Brighter Minds that I am going to get for my dd. It seems to have the exact type of activities (mazes, dot-to-dots, what's different?, etc.) that she did in therapy. I can tell you more of the activites that she did if you want to know. Most all of them could be done at home. I think www.abcteach.com has a section of visual perceptual skills worksheets.

The reading program (Scaredy Cat) that I mentioned earlier in this thread was designed for children with visual perceptual problems.

They'll get it, it just takes them longer! :)

[AmyU]

AmyU,
Has your son been through Vision Therapy? My dd went through 8 months. Her fine motor skills improved, but not the other areas of visual perception. We went to college of optometry for the therapy, the doctors rotated every month. I think the turn-around was so high that the therapy didn't get as in-depth as she needed. After 8 months, the supervising doctor recommended a 6 month break and retesting in the fall.

They'll get it, it just takes them longer! :)

No, my ds has not gone through Vision Therapy. We did go to our local college and they were willing to work with him, but by the time I pulled him from ps he had so many issues, one being major depression. ( to the point where, he hated himself and even tryed to hurt himself, he was 9 at this time. a hard one for me, I never thought that a 9 yro could get this sad) So this became our major focus. All other things were kinda push a side and let run their course. But now he has come such a long way, in everything and I truely believe that hs was one of the big things that helped in his life. ( and I will never let the ps control my son education again, I believe they just let the probelm slide and he just kept sinking deeper and deeper.) I am so happy to say that he now loves his life and he is learning there are things he is great at. ( like motor work, he knows more at 11 then some adult men do,) And now we focus alot of our studies on these areas. He will go to the library and get books on what he likes and read what he can and then I help him read what is more difficult. He is also learning to self educate. He has had 3 mentors ( that he found on his own) since we started hs 2.5 years ago. I am so proud of him. He has found ways to learn what he wants to learn. ( one of the great thing about hs, the time)
Thanks for the web sites and book info, I will be looking into them, Because we are more focused now on improving these other area, but I know with time and my help this will also come. I may someday look into vision therapy, but his reading is improving. Spelling is very hard, but I am teaching him different resource that he can us, thats what I had to do. I believe this problem runs in my family, my brother and consin went through vision therapy over 30 years ago. My mom says she's not sure if it really helped. I have stuggle all my life with reading writting and spelling, but now I probly do more reading then the average adult. I love to read. And thats the thing my son says he loves reading, like you said it just takes him longer and sometimes he needs help.
But I know in my heart he is going to grow up strong and be a great man, husband and father.
Good luck and I look forward to talking to you again. :)

[sixcloar]

Thanks for sharing your story. I will never let the ps touch my dd either. I had her original testing done there (they are not the ones who finally diagnosed her). They just labeled her ADD right away (she's not) and said I underestimate her abilities. There was no way I was putting her in a school that was setting her up for failure from the beginning. Like you, my concern is more with her emotinal needs than her reading ability right now. She needs to know that despite her challenges she is still a great person. I'm so glad to hear that your son is happy now. Your situation was exactly why I was afraid to put her in school.

If your son is starting to pick things up on his own, I don't know that I'd even go through the vision therapy. Like I said, most of the stuff can be done at home anyway. Memory games, I Spy books, hidden pictures, mazes, pattern blocks, geoboards (make him draw the patterns on paper after making the shape on the geoboard)-- all these were things they did with her. She thought it was fun for the most part, because it was mostly games. They did have her reading patterns as fast as she could from left to right, beacuse her eyes don't track left to right. She got really tired of that after a while. :)

You mentioned several members of your family have the same problem. I am convinced that my younger half-sister has visual issues, too. My mother never wanted her to be labeled, so she never allowed any testing to be put in her school records. She strugged all the way through school and college, with my mom doing most of her work for her (even in college & my mom is a retired ps teacher and currently a college professor!). She was so afraid of the labels that she didn't allow my sister to learn to be successful on her own. This situation is why I am adamant about providing a loving and nurturing learning environment for my dd.

My dd also has a terrible time with spelling. English lessons are also hard because I have to read it all to her and then write the answers for her to copy (she answers orally).

We have also tried to find something outside of school for her to be successful at doing. She loves to dance and takes ballet and acrobats (floor gymnastics) weekly. Although she may not make a career from it, she loves it and is good at it. For now it gives her something to feel confident in.