Slamdunk School of How to: Building a Better Learner

As I have mentioned before, Coral is ADHD, and sometimes that translates to not being a very patient learner. Ok, a lot of times she isn't a patient learner. Ok. Honest-to-God, every day is a struggle.

She loves math! When she already knows it. She loves reading--books she's already read. She loves writing--unless it's for school. She loves science--um, well, ok, she just loves science. You get the idea. She loves school, except for the school part.
It's so easy to get caught up with Leif who is the easiest student ever compared to Coral, but he's only 3 and this is her time. So I've been working on ways to help her be a better learner. If I can teach her how to learn, I will consider myself a successful teacher. I'm still learning how to help her become a lifelong learner, but I have learned a few tricks recently that have helped me.

So, we are learning time right now. I am taking this opportunity to teach her how to skip-count too. Sure, we started with fives, but we are learning other skip-counting as well. Relating it to reading a clock didn't really jive with me, but it certainly worked for her! She took reading a clock and is learning to skip-count by fives, tens, and twos. And it works for her. I have had to just go with it because while learning skip-counting via telling time isn't something I would have come up with on my own; but if I let Coral lead us where she wants to go, she is excited about learning. So, yay for math!

We are also still working on her reading skills. Talk about a fight. She gets to new words for her and often she just shuts down. I helped her read through her worksheet and then I told her to finish it up while I did something else. I came back int the classroom five minutes later and she had stuck her own nose on the wall because she "had a bad attitude" about it.

Sigh.

Come on Coral. We will work it together.

Or how about if we start reading in tandem? So, I started reading it to her, letting her read it after me, letting her read it with me, and then letting her read it on her own, and guess what. She is doing so much better, of course. The best part is, she is trying to help Leif learn to read too and as a result is becoming a better reader.

It also helps that I discovered that books without pictures are much easier for her to read and she really does understand them. The pictures were distracting her! Thank God for ebooks! My kindle has been a life saver in the reading department with my little girl. She has gotten into the habit of bringing me my kindle to "spend time" with me reading. She reads to me and it makes this momma so happy.

So long for today <3

Homeschooling Is Fun!

I know, I know. I haven't blogged here for months. What's up with that?

Well, I've been concentrating on building up my author profiles all over the web and I have been blogging like a boss on my other blog. As for homeschooling? We just got back into the swing of things after a winter of concentrating on developing reading skills. 

Coral is doing well considering, the best part of it all is she is excited to resume her other work. Science was the first thing she wanted to do, then art. So I combined the two. We are designing a cardboard building and then we are going to implode it (sans explosives). The science? Physics. Let's learn about Gravity!

Leif is amazing. He will be ready for Kindergarten work in the fall. His understanding of the preschool work is significantly more developed than his fine motor skills will allow him to work. In other words, he may be reading before he can write because he understands the concepts, he just can't control his pencil yet. 

That's what is happening in my world. What's happening in yours?