Homeschool Update

We are halfway through the year, and I'm amazed at how far we've come since September. The IEP goals were things like recognizing the letters of William's name and counting objects 1-5. At this point, William can recognize and name all colors, recognize, name, and draw 5 common shapes, recognize and write all uppercase letters and recognize and write most lower case letters. He is learning to write his numbers and can count objects 1-10 with minimal assistance.

This is a recent picture he drew of Christopher Robin, Piglet, and Pooh. He wrote his name at the top without any suggestion or help from me. (He often adds random letters at the end like that q.)

We learned about the major stories in Genesis and various science and social studies topics connected to those. We have two pages left in his preschool Handwriting Without Tears workbook. I bought the kindergarten level one and plan to jump in partway through. The tutor has begun introducing sight words (which is the next step for most special needs student readers.)

I had a wild thought today- I wonder if William could get phonics. It totally goes against educational theory since understanding phonics and sounding out words is a higher mental function than learning to recognize words by sight, and he hasn't had any success with the sight words yet. But so often William doesn't follow typical special needs development. And he does so much better when he understands the meaning/purpose of things.

I've been using Hooked on Phonics to teach the letters, mentioning but not dwelling on the sounds. So today I played the HOP DVD that says each letter name, sound, and a word that starts with that sound. There's a pause before each, so I listened to see if William would say any of the sounds as well as the letters. He spontaneously said quite a few.

Later while Lily was napping, I started reading AlphaTales with him. It's a book that has a story for each letter made of words that emphasize that sound. He was excited to recognize the letters, say the sounds, and help tell the stories by looking at the pictures. He stayed engaged for four stories (A-D) without much redirection. I was in shock! Praise God for His answers to our prayers.

Experiences like today have definitely increased my confidence for homeschooling next year. Between the tutor (who said she may stay on another year!), the preschool prep DVDs, Lily's enthusiasm, Hooked on Phonics, educational apps for the tablet, Leapfrog products, montessori materials and theory, Handwriting Without Tears, and now AlphaTales, along with the supervision of the Christian school, I feel like I have a good set of resources to draw from.

I am still looking for a good math program (suggestion, anyone??) and I know social interaction will be an ongoing issue. But I'm amazed at God's provision and excited to see what He has fur us in the future. Thanks again for your prayers. I know this is all a gift from God.