Mar. 13, 2007 - It's CLICKED!

Punkins has a night time teacher.  Yes, a very good one!  She's told me for a long time that at night, she has a teacher inside her head.  I have started to believe her.

First, it was numbers.  I honestly have not focused on addition.  Yet the other day she informed me:"1+1 is 2.  2+2 is 4.  (ETC.....all the way up to 5+5 is 10!!).  When I exclaimed my surprise and asked her how she knew that, she told me........................"THE TEACHER IN MY HEAD.  THE ONE AT NIGHT."'

Encouraged that I have an assistant (or maybe I'M the assistant???!!!), I decided to take some time and approach phonics from a different angle.  The Abeka method is good but it just hadn't "clicked" with Punkins.  When she would work on blends, she would separate the letters and sound them out individually.  I introduced a "Secret Key"......and showed her how she can use it to read any blend at a glance.  I started with "A" and added the consonants in front of it.  The next day, she'd conquered it!  And who was responsible?  "My teacher that comes to teach me at night after I go to bed!"   

So now...........Punkins is READING!!!  I gave her a book yesterday and she was able to read quite a few words.  I"m so proud of her and it's neat to see her bursting with excitement.  She's well aware of her limits, however.  Yesterday she pointed at a word, "Christian", and said  "I can't read that yet.  I'm just not very good when they put two consonants together like that!!"

I love the thrill of teaching.  It's not always thrills.......sometimes it seems like nothing is being accomplished.......but these major breakthroughs make me realize afresh the fertile land in which I'm farming!