First Day of 2013-2014 School Year

In our home, we do not separate learning from living, for it is within living that learning is thriving and happening. So normally we do not really mark when one day begins  and another ends such as the beginning of a school year. This year however I wanted to mark it, I think in part due to me feeling healthier and my energy returning after a long year of chemo treatments. Last year I was very sick with my cancer and I was  not able to be as active or involved as I would have liked. This year seems......... oh  I don't know, special and magical so with that kind of excitement, it just  seemed fitting to celebrate a new beginning, a new year of learning!

Sadly I did not get any photos like I wanted yesterday but we are starting the year with my son being 15 and our daughter being 12. I will get photos soon and update the side bar pictures of us. Also our adult daughter is no longer here, she has moved out to start her own adult life. However our first day went something like this in a very relaxed way.....

My original plan was to spend it at the beach with the kids, but hubby's allergies were severely acting up and it was a little too chilly to want to go. So instead we rented and watched 4 episodes of the Walking Dead, Season 3!  Since we do not have cable television, we have had to impatiently wait all this time for the DVD to be released! Our family are HUGE FANS of anything zombie related and the Walking Dead is just AWESOME. We have plans for activities related to national disasters that we are all looking forward to, even if it is preparing for a zombie apocalypse! ( or War, Earthquake, Tornado.......... um yeah those may be  more likely ha ha!)

We then went to the library for our first day, which the kids love going and I love the fact we can get  books for 1 whole month at this library. Our son, Shae checked out 2 books, one on War Maps ( how cool  is that?) and one on the Samurai. Our daughter, Corin checked out 4 books, 2 Warrior Cat books and 2 Monster High books.

30 minutes of  chores were done which we consider part of life skills.

The day was wrapped up by hubby and both kids going through the 2 new basic cookbooks we go recently and picking 2 recipes they will work together in learning how to cook. They chose chili and pizza for their first 2 recipes to try.  All three of them will work together on these 2 recipes where they will cook 2 times a week. This is occurring because last year  I became to sick to cook and nobody here could cook and even though I am better now, we feel all 3 of them should work on basic cooking! Although I am better now, we know with Stage IV breast cancer, that all could change at any given moment and they need to be able to step in on things I usually do  around the house.

This is not something that is being forced, they are all actually looking forward to it as they do like to be in the kitchen. They just like my cooking better so sit back and wait to see what I will  make usually HA HA! The only rule is hubby said I will not be allowed in  the kitchen, only him and the kids! Also what a fantastic connection activity for the 3 of them!

Now that they picked their recipes, they will make their grocery lists and we will go shopping for the ingredients on Thursday. Looking forward to it!

In the evening, was spent on the computer as well as reading the library books. Corin read hers while I fixed dinner, spelling out the words to me she could not read so I could help her. After dinner I read to her for awhile. It ended the evening by her wanting to read to me, while I just read the words she could not get ( shared reading) and it was remarkable seeing how well she is reading now. ( It has been a very long difficult struggle for her with Dyslexia.)

Well so that was our first day, nothing major but a nice relaxed, very enjoyable day!

How was yours?

Reading Help Activity

Awhile ago, an online friend of mine who happened to work with Dyslexia children gave me this idea for an activity to use with my daughter. My daughter really works hard at reading but it is not something that is coming easy, perhaps she simply is not ready. Being interested in reading and being ready to read are really 2 different things. However I figured if this idea may help her along and make it easier for her to learn while finding it fun and enjoyable why not?

So the idea is to write out words but write the vowels in a different color than the rest of the word. We are just doing a simple notebook and am starting by going through the alphabet writing down 8 or 9 new vocab words a day.  While writing the vowels in different colors DID indeed seem to help a lot, Corin asked if I would write out different colors by the syllables rather than vowels. So we tried it and for Corin writing syllables in different colors really helped by leaps and bounds.

Whether it is helping her to slow down, or making it easier for her to break up the words, or just the different colors are helping send the messages in clearer images to her brain, not sure. What I do know is that she is really really enjoying this activity and it IS making reading words much easier for her! Once we go through the new day's vocab words, she likes to then work backwards going over each page again!

I have never pressured her to read and have always taken a relaxed approach with her, being very patient helping her sound out words when she wanted help. It has been a very natural process, a natural process her brother seemed to be able to do over night when one day at 8 years old it simply clicked for him and he knew how. For Corin, it has been a much longer journey, one she has gotten frustrated with many of times for how difficult it seemed to her. Is she Dyslexic? maybe, she has aunts that are, I suppose it may depend on how you look at learning disabilities and the labels that are used for them.

Regardless of the reasons she is only beginning to grasp how to read at 10, I am confident that when she is ready, she will read. I am confident that many other unschoolers report their children learning to read at 10, 12 and sometimes even as late as 14 and that when they do, you do not see a gap. I am confident that while one child is ready to learn to read by age 8 that another child is not ready and that is perfectly okay, that forces the issue may cause much more harm than good. I am confident that as my daughter has struggled in this area for quite a while now, that the way we have allowed it to develop naturally, with no pressure, crying or shouting, that she still LOVES to read and has a deep love for books. I am happy to have found an activity that she finds really fun and that is making a difficult task, easier and more enjoyable for her.