For as difficult as it to teach a dyslexic child to read, there are some really special traits about these great kids. Read about them here and here. Above all, don’t ever say anything to your child that he or she may interpret as there being something wrong with them or being ruined! Don’t ever give up on your well doing!
When to consider that something might not be right.
Instead of me writing a whole bunch of stuff, I’m going to send you to Susan Barton’s website. She has TONS of info and it’s even got a “start here” button!
Here are some more warning signs. Be sure to check out what I have on my FB page, too.
Very often a web search will recommend starting with your child’s teacher. That works well when your kids go to school, but what about when you ARE the teacher? In my experience, homeschoolers tend to fall into two camps on dyslexia: those who suspect that there’s a problem and look for different curriculum vs. those who keep going with whatever they bought in hopes that more time will fix the problem.
Let’s get these two things out of the way right now: You did not CAUSE your child to have dyslexia and you cannot CURE dyslexia. Dyslexia is part of how the child was born, a difference in how the brain learns. That said, there ARE Things you CAN do to HELP your child MANAGE his or her dyslexia. We’re going to talk about those things all month both here and on my FB page, so be sure to check in often.
What I want you to do today, if you are new to the Dyslexia discussion, is download the handbook this page from the International Dyslexia Association and read it. Read it twice if you have time! Take notes. You are sure to have questions. We’ll be back on the IDA page several times this month, but feel free to explore the white papers and fact sheets they have archived for you. They really do believe everyone should be able to read–and so do I!
Here’s a link to the IDA’s page that lands where their fundraising efforts are housed. I do this not because I want you to give, although you might elect to do so, but because the idea that we need to REIMAGINE EDUCATION for DYSLEXICS is something that we really ought to be doing for all learners. We are poised at a unique point in time where all the things going on in this world should mean real change to how we envision education–not just for dyslexic people, but for all students. Let’s do this!
If you are the parent of a student with dyslexia, you need to learn about Emily Gibbons, who is such a wonderful advocate for dyslexic learners. In addition to creating a veritable library full of excellent resources for tutors and teachers to help these special kids, she also has lots of great links to timely research. Here she provides a list of things she wishes people knew about dyslexia. Enjoy!
These folks had such a wonderful calendar of great web links last year that I hoped they would do another one for this year — and I wasn’t disappointed! Enjoy!
I have tons of resources inside all of the pages right here that can help you. In addition, as you can see from last week’s blog post below, I also have a FB page where I’ve put lots of neat ideas that ranged from figuring out what could work for you to navigating your state’s homeschool law. Folded into all of that, there were posts with freebies, posts discussing different kinds of homeschooling, and more. For example, this past week has been all about high school things. For the next two weeks or so, we’ll delve into virtual learning and how education may or may not change in the future. A few of the upcoming posts contain links to articles that are geared to those in the workforce, but could be considered in the world of education as well. Once tutoring begins in earnest again (on the 15th), those FB postings will only happen once a day. I can’t wait to share more goodies with you!
This summer, I’ve been getting the hang of posting timely articles on my business Facebook page. I’ve discussed all sorts of things there. What’s more is that I made it a goal to post each day–not only that, I did it! That is big! Usually I have been far too busy to post a variety of things over there–or here for that matter. Head over to see what you may have missed this summer: https://www.facebook.com/Reasonable-Homeschooling-1884659424920218
Don’t forget … If you are a returning homeschool family, the new affidavit and objectives for your kids are due no later than August 1st, which is a Saturday this year. (Please make a copy of anything you mail to the district … and send it certified return receipt request! Check to see if your district is accepting these papers via email. Mine is. What a boon!)
Also, remember that if you are adding younger siblings to the same affidavit as your returning students, the new compulsory attendance change goes into effect for this term as well. This means that if a younger sibling will begin homeschooling this term, and he or she turns 6 by the first few days of when your local school begins holding sessions, that child needs an affidavit and objectives. You could wait to put that child on his or her own affidavit and not send it in with the other kids, but that seems like too much bother. Yes, it’s legal to wait until the third day of school to send that child’s affidavit in, but who wants to make a special trip just to be “right”?? Are you wondering about that “third day of school” thing? That has to do with when a child is considered truant. So, if there are more than three unexplained absences, you can be guilty of that. Who needs that either?! If your child turns 6 later in the school term, you really ought to ask your chosen evaluator or at your local school as to what they prefer you to do. After all, when a child misses the cut off date, they can begin the following year. You can do that too. You don’t have to begin homeschooling with Kindergarten. Begin with what your child can do. After all, grade levels have no real usefulness in the homeschool environment! (See my slides about that topic!)
On Monday night I did a FB Live for a homeschool support group. While I cannot share the link to the actual speech, I thought you might like to check out my slides. I think you will be interested in learning a bit about where grade levels came from and why they are not particularly useful in the homeschool. Psst, I also debunked the myth of being “behind!”
