Our School Journey, Part 1

I homeschooled my son for kindergarten and first grade and planned to put him in first grade (holding him back a year) when we enrolled him in our local public school in Colorado.

We decided that I should homeschool him so that I could give him a solid foundation in phonics and reading. I worked with him every day. I had homeschooled most of my other kids for kindergarten and taught them to read based on a well-researched phonics program that our elementary school used. Some of my kids went into first grade reading several years above their grade level. I wanted to make sure I sent them into school reading so none of them would fall through the cracks, because if you can read, you can do anything.

I wanted my son to read like his siblings. I worked on teaching him phonics but it didn't seem to make sense to him. With my other kids, we learned phonics then moved onto sight words using phonics to decode words. My son was different. I had to change what I'd done with my other kids. Instead of learning phonics first, the reverse was true. He needed to learn sight words first.

We worked on sight words. I bought sight word based reading programs. I made flash cards out of index cards. I labeled every day items like fork, spoon, plate, stove, bathroom, etc. I made flashcards for family member's names (remember, I have 10 kids, so learning all the names was no small feat for him). We did flashcards for animal names, colors, numbers, nouns. We read lots of books.

After a while, he started to pick up on phonics, so I switched gears and we worked on the sounds that each letter makes. Some of the letters, like f and v, were harder for him to say, but it didn't take him too long to learn all the letters. He began decoding unfamiliar words. He began reading signs on the road as we drove to town. He read titles of books and he started actually reading sentences inside the books.

We also worked on the computer. He did Raz Kids (subscription), Looney Tunes Phonics (subscription), and Starfall (free). He also worked with www.abcya.com (free), which has all sorts of programs for all grade levels.

I did all of this in hopes of preparing him to enter public school.

He's Not a Chromosome Count

My son still amazes me when he does things I don't expect.

He loves to play on Starfall (www.starfall.com) and today I watched him choose a game about the body. Words were listed at the top of the screen. In the middle of the screen was a figure of a kid. Along the sides of the kid were spaces with arrows pointing to different body parts like head, arm, foot, hand, etc. I stood in amazement as my four-year-old, who doesn't speak much, matched words to body parts by clicking on the word at the top and dragging it to the correct space. Time and time again he did it correctly. As soon as he'd match one, he'd look at me and smile.  At the end of the game, the kid on the screen did a little dance so my son stood on his chair and shook his little bootie. So cute!

The more I see him do things like this, the more determined I am to make sure he doesn't get shoved into a "box" designed by well-meaning people who decide he'll only do certain things because he has an extra chromosome. He's an individual with talents just like everyone else. He may have challenges, but so what?

He needs to be evaluated as an individual, not as a chromosome count.

Starfall

Why is it that even my four-year-old is smarter than me when it comes to working a remote or the computer? He is a genius when it comes to anything electronic. I can always tell when he's had the remote to the DVR because he's set it to record cartoons. How does he do that?

He's also learned to navigate through one of his favorite internet sites www.starfall.com. This site allows kids to learn the letters as well as their sounds, learn to read, read simple books, and print out projects. My son is starting with the ABCs and he knows how to click on each letter. His favorite is when they show him how to do sign language for the letter. He loves to imitate the signs and he claps intermittently (which means he's pleased with himself).

Today when he got on the site, I tried to help him and he promptly told me "no" and instructed me (by pointing his finger) to leave the room.

I recommend this site for any kids who are just beginning to learn their letters all the way through reading fluently. It's a fun site. My other kids enjoy it as well. It's fun to watch my son while he learns his letters on this site.

www.starfall.com.