Reasonable Homeschooling

Cursive writing should not be relegated to the realm of a secret code for older people!  Instead, it should be taught, perhaps even taught first, and definitely should be taught to dyslexic children.  The late Diana Hanbury-King wrote a wonderful (and short) article for the IDA on the merits of cursive that you can find here.  Liz Fitzgerald, who created a handwriting curriculum called, aptly enough, Cursive First, outlines her rationale here.  It makes so much sense when you think about all the great reasons for cursive, especially for children who are prone to reversals as dyslexic children are–you cannot make a reversal in cursive!  Think about it.  Try it.  You can’t.  Cursive can be so much more than either a secret code or just a scribble on a paycheck.  It can be the gateway for helping your child fully enter the world of reading and writing!

and went to the Covered Bridge Festival at Knoebels.  This amusement park is an interesting venue in Pennsylvania, not just because you can walk around the place for free, or because the paper tickets for the rides have no expiration date, or even because the owners search for and save vintage rides–especially carousel pieces.  All of these are fun reasons to go to Knoebels if you happen to be near Catawissa, PA, but they are not why they have made the Dyslexia Awareness Month blog posts.

Are you curious?  Well, if you were one of my students, you would know that there are four choices for spelling the sound of /n/.  Of course, there is the ‘n’ itself, the 14th letter of the alphabet, but there are also three other options: the Greek two-letter /n/ that is spelled ‘pn,’ the Latin two-letter /n/ that is spelled ‘gn,’ and the Germanic (or Middle English) two-letter /n/ that is spelled ‘kn.’  The name Knoebels uses the older pronunciation, /k-n-O-belz/ (I don’t know where the schwa is on my keyboard–that’s the upside down ‘e’ that you see in the dictionary).  Yes, these folks say both the /k/ and the /n/ sounds, unlike when you hear the word ‘knee’ today, which only says /n-E/.  All of my students easily learn this sound because when I connect it to Knoebels, which is kind of a big deal around here, it sticks!

But, wait, there’s more!  Did you know that Germanic ‘kn’ two-letter /n/ may only be used at the beginning of a base word?  The Latin ‘gn’ two-letter /n/ may be used at the beginning or the end of a base word.  You would notice that last part when analyzing a word such as ‘sign’ and it’s derivative, ‘signal.’  In ‘signal,’ the syllable is divided between the ‘g’ and the ‘n.’  The Greek ‘pn’ isn’t very common, but you do see it.  You’ll probably never look at these phonograms the same way again, but how cool is that?!?  In case you are wondering, English really DOES make sense, but only if you take into account the morphology (word parts), the etymology (history), and the phonology (sounds)!

Until tomorrow, …

Many blessings,

Chris

P.S.  Shhhhhhh!  I found some really cute presents for some of my students while I was at the craft fair … but they will have to wait until Christmas break for them, especially since I still have treasures to find for the remaining students.

I found this on Gina Cooke’s Facebook page, LEX: Linguist~Educator Exchange.

Have you ever heard about the triad that goes with kids who have allergies?  They often have eczema and asthma too.  Maybe it’s that kids with asthma often have allergies and eczema?  I forget if it goes both ways.  I do know that our dermatologist told us a long time ago that the three go together.  In fact, while at the doctor today, the PA explained it as the same thing, a problem with the skin, the lungs, or the nose–similar reactions due to similar reasons, but affecting differing parts of the body.

Dyslexia is similar.  Kids with dyslexia often have other learning issues, called in “educationalese,” comorbid problems.  These comorbid issues are often an accompanying diagnosis of dyscalculia and/or dysgraphia, but they can also run into behavior problems like ADHD, ADD, Executive Functioning issues, and other things.  There seems to be a whole slew of things that can crop up once a diagnosis of Dyslexia is on the table.  Unfortunately, sometimes the doctors, psychologists, and other professionals don’t agree on the terminology or the best practices for remediating or ameliorating these issues.  What’s a parent to do?!

If this is your world, you need to learn all you can about what’s going on with your child so you can help him or her.  Have you read WrightsLaw yet?  I’m going to stop right here tonight because once you head over to their website, you’ll be there forever!  Before you go, though, what I really want you to know is that you love your child and know him or her best.  Due to this, you are ideally suited to be the best possible advocate for your child!  Never forget that.  And never, ever, stop fighting for your child!  As my friend Emily Gibbons says on her blog … Until every child can read, …

Many blessings,

Chris

Five years ago today, my husband encouraged me to officially launch Reasonable Homeschooling.  Originally, the purpose of this business was to enable me to evaluate homeschool students in my area and help other mothers in their homeschool journey.  Today that vision has grown to include writing lessons in several areas and targeted help for struggling learners, including dyslexic students, in decoding, encoding, fluency building, handwriting, beginning composition, explicit comprehension–basically I cover all aspects of the arts of language.  I couldn’t be happier!  Over the years, my client base has grown from just a few local students to many more living in every time zone.  Surprisingly, there is even an international one!   Many thanks to each and every one of you who has helped this little business become a “real job” for me, one that I love doing and plan to continue for years to come–Lord willing!

As I posted on my FB page a few minutes ago, even though I don’t use Barton, I am very impressed with the wealth of information Susan Barton makes available for parents of struggling learners on her webpage.  Back when we were waist-deep in our own struggles, one of my sons could never pass the Barton screening. It turns out that he still has a significant auditory processing glitch! (As if you ever outgrow things like that!) Who knows why?! After all, we are indeed all created uniquely, so it stands to reason that some of us would be good at some things, while others of us are good at other things.  If you are curious about the screening I’m talking about, head over to my Facebook page (Reasonable Homeschooling) or check out the direct link to the page on Susan’s site.

As I mentioned yesterday, there are some things that dyslexic kids are often excellent at doing.  Because they often are made to feel somehow inadequate, especially if they face significant failures or setbacks in their learning and other people make issue of it, they really can use the extra boost that learning about the things they are good at can give them.  Here are several things that dyslexics tend to be quite good at doing (credit to Dyslexia Support Services in Australia):

Research has highlighted some positive aspects to being dyslexic:

• Great at visual thinking- thinking in pictures
• Fast problem solvers, able to think laterally
• Excellent trouble-shooters
• They are intuitive- good at reading people
• Verbally articulate- great communicators
• Creative- so many dyslexics are employed as designers, artists, actors, chefs
• Spatially talented many dyslexics are employed as engineers, architects, designers, artists, mathematicians, physicists, physicians (esp. Surgeons and orthopaedists), and dentists.
• Dyslexic people frequently enjoy above average physical co-ordination skills

If you need more encouragement, read The Gift of Dyslexia by Ron Davis or The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide.  Both are worth your time.  (Yay me!  I just figured out how to embed an italics font on the page!!!)

Until next time, …

Many blessings,

Miss Chris

Classes are well underway here and everyone is making steady progress, which is wonderful; however, I really want to talk about Dyslexia today–and all month long–since it is Dyslexia Awareness Month.

Did you know that reversals are just a very small part of how dyslexic people struggle with language?  Did you know that there are several markers that you can look for if you are concerned that your child might be a dyslexic?  One of the most common things that I hear from parents about their dyslexic child is that they didn’t crawl (or they didn’t crawl right, lol).  These are the kids who scooted around the room on their butts, simply bypassed crawling altogether, or just basically looked funny when they were supposed to be crawling like the other babies in play group did.  Don’t tell me you didn’t notice this, because it is so adorable that people definitely comment on it.  Another thing that I often hear when I first ask about a student’s very early years is that these kids often are either late talkers or they are very difficult to understand long past the time that other kids are able to be understood by people outside of their household.  Now, before you start freaking out about this one, there is another phenomenon that happens with subsequent babies when there is a much older child in the house–very often the older children will talk for the baby and the baby doesn’t have to say anything for long past time when the oldest would have done so.  Most moms and dads are so busy these days that we barely notice if an older sibling is interpreting for a younger one.  We’re just glad that someone is telling us what everyone wants or needs that we don’t stop to think about how that information is getting to us.  If your toddler is not talking, or your preschooler is barely talking, you will want to stop and take note of why.  You really should investigate.   If your child manifested these two markers, you should probably seek help because early intervention is part of the best practices for remediation.  Unfortunately, quite often, an official diagnosis for dyslexia lags until a child is having trouble in school.

Read this post from Understood.org.   It offers a number of signs that may very well point to dyslexia.  Susan Barton’s list of dyslexia markers is also wonderful, as is the one from Yale University, which divides their list of signs by age/grade level.  The more you understand about what Dyslexia IS, the more readily you can go about dealing with it.  The most important thing to know about dyslexia is that it’s nobody’s fault!  It really is just one more way that you or your child is different from the next person.  God makes no mistakes!  If He chose to knit you or your child together with this learning difference, there has to be a reason for it.  Another day we’ll explore some of the upsides to dyslexia–and there are plenty!  For now, this is enough to get you started on your own Dyslexia Awareness!

Until next time, …

Many blessings,

Chris

Yes!  Tomorrow morning the 2018-2019 term kicks off and I’m so excited.  There are a few new kids to meet and greet this week–and ultimately sell on the wonders of reading and writing–but there are also many that are returning from last year.  It’s amazing how much I miss seeing them!   Of course, a few came over for Phonogram Fun Days, but most were doing other things over the summer.  I managed to get a lot of tasks completed as well.  To each and every one of my students and their parents:  Thank you so much for the honor and privilege of allowing me to come alongside you in your teaching and learning!  I can’t wait to see how each of you grows in your reading and writing skills this term!

I was making so much progress on the website, had so much forward momentum, and it all came to a screeching halt last week.  Today is the first day that my brain in clear enough for me to do anything, so I thought I ought to give you a heads up in case you were wondering what happened.  I have bronchitis, maybe even pneumonia–again–but I doubt that because, although I feel sick still, I’m ever so much better than I was last week.  Anyway, I took today to catch up on the emails languishing in my inbox.  I’ll get back to work on the website later this week.  I think all that’s left is to do hold a really thorough editing session! I want to upload my policy handbook for the term as well, but that needs editing as well.  Once those two things are done, I think I can start paying attention to blog posts!  I can’t wait!

Until then, …

Many blessings,

Chris

Hi Folks,

I think, maybe, just maybe, I’ve finally finished the Arts of Language Page.  You can find it here if you have some time to read it.  Grab a new cup of coffee first–it’s LONG!  I know, I know, English is my thing and I tend to get carried away with it, but there really is just SO much to say there.

I didn’t follow my own instruction to my students as I’ve been working on the page.  I wrote without an outline.  :-O Instead, I did more of a “stream of consciousness” thing and just kept writing.  In fact, I’ve been back to the page several times over the last couple of weeks adding even more to it.  Perhaps a few “go to top” links might be appropriate?  Maybe I should break the page up into its components?  I don’t know.  For now, I’m leaving it as it is.  If I don’t, I’ll never get anything written for the history areas (AKA, what’s often called Social Studies or Humanities in schools) or Sciences, not to mention all the fun non-core areas like art, music, foreign languages, home ec, vo-tech, etc, etc, etc.

You know what else I want to look into?  No, how could you know what’s bouncing around my brain?  I learned that my site isn’t mobile friendly and I have no idea how to change that.  I guess I’ll need to schedule some time for yet another call to tech support.  Thankfully, I chose wisely there, and they answer the phone 24/7.  I did, however discover that I could add to the Home page just by typing a new post!  I guess the blog thing will work this way.  I thought each post would end up on its own page, but I guess not.  Add another thing to that list to ask the tech guys.

Here’s another thing:  I want to figure out is how to insert pictures right onto the pages.  I don’t want to add too many, though, because I want RH to be a place that isn’t annoying.  I know I can’t stand it when websites take forever to load because of long running scripts.  I can’t be the only one who gets annoyed by all the ads all over the Internet these days either.  I just want a nice, useful, informative website.  Something that is evergreen that people come to associate with solid guidance.  How am I doing?  (Yeah, the comments are still turned off! I think.  Maybe.)

Blessings,

Chris