I love to read. I love all manner of stories and I find them most entertaining. I also know as a daughter, sister, and mother of dyslexics reading is not always an enjoyable experience. My son who has dyslexia has not really found much joy in reading yet. He is now 13 and A is doing so much better with his reading that I am consistently proud of him. We however have used audio books to spark an interest in his desires and I think its really helped. We found this web site called 'Books should be free' where there are hundreds of classic stories all with free mp3 downloads. I have enjoyed many books myself this way. it is nice to be able to sit and crochet or craft and have someone else read me a story.
Today we are going to listen to "The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus" by L Frank Baum (yes thats right he wrote more then the Wizard of Oz)
Today we are working on site words for the little ones, They already have a love of books. They love when someone else reads to them. Now I want to encourage them to read to themselves. Until now neither of them showed the signs of reading readiness. We believe that until the children show signs we do not force reading, or reading practice. We learned early on in our homeschooling adventures that pressing kids to early can cause frustration and anger. Some kids are ready early some are ready late but at any rate when you allow a child to learn at their own pace and when they are ready they learn quickly because they are ready. So this morning I found this site where all the dolch site words are in puzzle form in groups of about 10 words per puzzle. I printed off several for each child to practice today. I then created a printed page with lined paper for them to practice spelling the words, I wrote 10 of the 20 words on the practice paper and had them practice writing the words. We will probably repeat the same ones in a few days just to see which they remember and which they don't. I am also in the process of writing little stories in word format to go with these that they can practice.
ahhh the joys of reading, it all starts somewhere.
So true, and could not agree more! I will have to come back to check out the dolce sight word site later on when I have time to look it over. I need to get more ink (you probably use as much ink as I do LOL!) before I can print it anyways. My 10 yr old and 8 yr olds are making steady progress, but we're not pushing or forcing the reading issue. I let them take their time & give them as much time as needed before I move forward. My 4 yr old will prob be reading before she's 5 or 6 though. Amazing how different even siblings can be!
ReplyDeleteDebra, my oldest was reading on her own at 18 months. She didnt like it that I would tell her I couldnt stop what I was doing to read to her so she learned to read to herself. My 6 year old reads more words, and can spell more words then my 7 year old and my 13 year old did not read until he was going on 12. He struggled the most and he was what helped us to realize that reading comes naturally when they are ready.
ReplyDeleteand yes I think we can assume that we both use fair amounts of ink for our printers! ;)
A love of reading is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I think my daughter is ready to start, but I am taking it slow. I would rather her learn to read "late" and enjoy it, than learn now (at 4) and hate it.
ReplyDeleteI like listening to books, too. I just wish I had more time....