Dovecote Academy

Nov. 22, 2009 - Listening Therapy is Over - and Successful!

Ten weeks ago, my daughter was still struggling to read Dick & Jane books. She wrestled with words like "this" and "then." If she asked me what a word spelled and I told her, she would remember it the next time she saw it but not the third time she came across it. Even though she enjoyed writing, she couldn't spell much of anything, nor could she read back what she wrote because it was so badly spelled. When I asked her a question, she would often disappear into a blank stare for close to a minute before answering.

Much of this stemmed from an auditory processing difficulty.

Last Friday, I watched her work on the beginning of a phonics curriculum with a tutor during the last session of her Listening Fitness Therapy. She read about 40 words on cards, one after the other, no problem. She had to stop and sound out a couple of the words, but most were as easy for her as they would be for me. Then she worked on spelling several simple words - again, no problem. She could sound them out and use the right letters for the sounds. Last night she read half of Dr.Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish to me, easily recognizing many longer words. And the blank stares are gone.

If I didn't understand some of the science behind the Listening Fitness Therapy, I would think this was a miracle. In only ten weeks, she has accomplished things we've been working on for 3 years. We still have some ongoing work to do at home, including using Anna Buck's Anna's Sound Bits phonics/language arts curriculum. But now I'm expecting she can succeed instead of continuing to struggle in her schoolwork.

What a blessing to find the right key to unlock my child's learning. I am beyond thankful!

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Nov. 21, 2009 - Change # 1

     I have always  been a girl who likes structure.  I like  knowing  what is going to happen and when it will be happening.   I have previously been of the thought  that I was a flexible  person.  I mean,  my goodness,  I used to be a pre-school teacher,  you need to be flexible  in that line of work.   Something happened, though,  from that life  to the life  that I am inhabiting now.  I think maybe  it is  old age  or,  gasp!  peri-menopausal related.   Whatever the reason,  I do not like going with the flow  anymore.  I am just not good with it.   Surprises  are not my best friend.

     This love of structure  carries over into our learning time.   Now,  when I say structure  I do not  mean every subject has its own handy-dandy  time slot  (I am not that far into OCD land,  not yet anyway.)   My version of structure  comes in the form  of rhythm.  Our  learning time has a flow to it minus the timetable.  Our days start with  Morning Time,  math, reading  and writing,  lunch,  a big break then more learning time.   This was our day  BC  (Before Cancer.)

     Since our little life bump,  I am not finding  comfort  in structure.   Structure is no longer my friend.  Structure  is stifling to me now.  Structure has become  synonomous  with suffocation.   I don't want structure anymore.   I want freedom.   I think that just might be my word  for 2010:   freedom.

     I want the freedom  to start my day off with doing yoga  without those niggling little voices  whispering that this is really the time  for Morning Time, not Mommy Time.   I want the freedom  to be able  to play a game with my kids in the middle of the morning  without  those blasted voices  reminding me that we should be really doing  reading right  now,  not playing around.    

     I have been thinking about this for awhile.  Two weeks ago when I was told that the drama was all over,  I mistakenly  thought  "Yay,  we can go back to the way  life used to be."   That week we went back to our structured days  of learning  and I thought  my head was going to explode.  It all seemed so foreign to me.  By the time  lunch time arrived,  my head was pounding  and I was knee-deep in frustration.  

     i attempted to  do this again the following week  but I bailed after the second day.  I knew  that I could not do school like this  anymore,  well,  not for awhile anyway.   I spent the rest of that week  figuring out  how I was going to manage this.  I mean,  the kids had to learn.  I was definitely not going to send them to public school,  so I needed to come with a plan  on how  to loosen up our days.

     I think  we may have figured it out.   I told the kids  that  each day  they can decide when they want to do school.  If they want to do it in the morning,  then we will do it then.  If something pressing  pops up in the morning, then we can have our learning time  in the afternoon.   We can even do it in the evening if that would float their boat.  Our new  motto  is that learning has to be done every day  ( that will never change)  but  when they do that learning,  that  is up to them.

     Now,  we are fresh into this new motto  but, so far,  it is working out very well.   It has finally dawned on me that we are not morning people.   I have tried so hard to be a morning person  but it just isn't flying.  The kids  do not do well in the morning either.  They need some time  to ease into their day.  So the last few days  have seen them  starting  out with playing  (both inside and outside)  and then  we  spend a bit of time  with our Morning Time.   Mia has been starting  math  just before lunch and then the learning has been continuing after lunch.   

     The neat thing  about this  is that  our days  will not always  look like that.  Everyday  will be different.  Every day  will be fresh!  new!  alive!   I will never know  what to expect  from one day to the next.   You would think  after our rollercoaster ride of the past four months,  that  this kind of life  would scare the liver out of  me.  Quite the opposite.  I find it very refreshing.   I am looking forward  to this coming week  and to all of the surprises  that await us.   I am looking forward  to  next  week's  freedom. 

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Nov. 20, 2009 - Praying in Colour

     I was talking to a friend on the weekend  about  how my life  now seemed like an emotional rollercoaster ride.   She  suggested  that I start 'drawing my prayers."   She said that she had begun to do this  and it  had added depth to her prayer life.

     This concept  comes from a  book,  Praying in Colour.   I looked at the website and was immediately intrigued.  Drawing your prayers  just makes them more visual and is a creative way  to pray for those that are important to me.In the simplest form.  This could just be doodling  or,  for those who are creatively hinged, they could be masterpieces.

     You can use this concept  to pray for one person  and include all of your concerns  on that one drawing,  or you can  bring all of your prayer needs  to that one creation.  It can also be used in helping you to memorize Scripture,  as a visual aid.

     As always,  I am drawn  to the  'next new thing.'   I know,  I am fickle.   But  this idea  intrigues my creative side.  Right now,  that side of me  is aching to break out and I think  praying in colour might help, at least for now.

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Nov. 19, 2009 - Relaxed

     I have been thinking during the last few weeks about  how I want  our schooling day to turn out.  I know,  this is nothing new.   I have gone through this thinking process  a few times (understatement)  in the last few years.   My problem is that I know  how I want things to go  but  the voices in my head (or other people's  voices)  make me  go back to our original way of schooling.  The simple and plain truth  is that I am not happy with how we have been doing school for  quite awhile now.   I will explain how  I want things to change at a future date.  For now,  I just want to tell you about our day yesterday.  We had a great day  and it went smoothly  without me having an overwhelming urge to pull out my hair.  

     For starters,  I let the kids sleep in yesterday.  They were all up  by 8:30  and watched  a video (we just got them from the library) while eating their  breakfast.   After the video, we read  Hamlet,  A Christmas Carol  and These Happy Golden Years (Wilder book.)  Then the kids decided that they would like to watch another video.  Crazy woman that I am,  I let them.  By this time  it was 11:30.  Mia and Rocky did their math lesson then we had lunch.

     After lunch,  we did some fraction things with Rocky  then the two older ones  did their reading and spelling.   We read The Sword and the Circle.  Afterwards,  we looked at a Janice VanCleave experiment book  that I had found at the library.   Mia decided that she would like to do some chemistry experiments.  I went  down into the deep abyss (aka the basement) to get all of our chemistry books ( I just can't let the experiments stand on their own,  we have to have spines  as a jumping off point.  It's  just ingrained in me.)  We looked at a few pages of the books then we did three experiments.  The kids  then  wrote out one of their experiments  a la WTM. 

     That's it!   That was our day!  It was so relaxing  and  calm.   This is how  I want our days to be all of the time.  Now,  we didn't get to grammar or  writing.  We have to work on that.  Anyways,  I thought I would just share  what  a great  Prairie school day  looks like,  at least, imo. 

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Nov. 17, 2009 - Counting down until Thanksgiving Break!

School has been going pretty good this year.  Right now I'm behind on grading papers, but tonight or tomorrow night I'll get caught up with that.  I'm almost done making assignments until Thanksgiving break.  I'm going to have the kids do school on Monday and somewhat on Tuesday.  It will be more of "holiday school".  We'll be shopping for food items, reading Thanksgiving books and watching holiday movies, but it will also be a catch-up day for my high schoolers if they need it, and they probably will.

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Nov. 17, 2009 - At A Crossroads

     Last week was a rough week for me.  I would have to say  that last week was the worst week that I have had  since the whole cancer thing  began.   It was rough  because I couldn't understand  why I was feeling the way that I was.  I couldn't  understand  why I was crying  all of the time.   My cancer was gone.  I came away from it relatively unscathed.  I should be delieriously happy.  Why, oh why,  then, was last week  a week of endless tears.  

      In addition to the tears,  I felt  at odds over everything.  I knew that I was at a crossroads in my life.  The cancer  has changed me.  How could it not?   I have been changed on many levels--physical,  emotional and spritual.   I knew  that I had a choice:  i could either  ignore the changes and go on with life the way that it used to be  or I could take the steps  toward  changing things  in my life.  

      If I ignore these changes,  then  the cancer was all for naught.   There was no purpose  for  these last four months.   It would all have been a waste.

      If  I go down the valley of change,  I have no idea  what those changes  will look like.  I know  that I have changed,  but I don't know how that will all look in my life.  I don't know what to do first.  I am at a loss  and that scares me.   I don't want the last months to be for nothing.  I want my experience  to mean something,  not just for me but for those around me  but I don't know what all of that means.   Hence, the tears and  pleading prayers of last week.

      I was feeling pretty desparate  last Friday.  I felt all alone.   God, in His extreme Grace,  sent friends  to show me the way out.   Three friends called me that day  and the  clouds  started to lift.  I began to make sense  out of  my craziness.   The next day,  I talked to a friend that I hadn't  talked to in  2 years.  Another friend came out to the farm  to visit.  These talks  were like being covered in a warm blanket  on a dreary cold day.   God  gave me a pillow Sat. night  to rest my weary head  by  having another friend  call me that night.  This friend  had gone through cancer  last year.   Talking to her  soothed my soul.

      It seems that what I went through last week is normal.   Who knew?   I'm not insane after all!   The more my friend  talked about her cancer,  the more  I relaxed and could feel myself getting  stronger.  All of my  tears  and sense of unknowing  is part of the cancer experience.  I am learning  that regardless of how major or minor  your cancer is,  you are obligated to go through  all of the experiences.  It seems to be mandatory.   

      This past week  was just another process of grieving.   I still don't know  how this is all going to play out in my life.  I don't know in what form  these changes  are going to take,  but I do know  that I do not want  these last four months  to be for naught.   I want them to mean something.  I want, need,  for there to be changes  in my life.   I still have that scared feeling  but now the excitement is starting to edge it out.  I am looking forward to see what God  has in store for me.  

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Nov. 16, 2009 - Book #48 -- Catching the Fire

     I read the first book ( Hunger Games ) in this trilogy  in September.  I went into that book thinking that I would not like it as it was set in the future  and I just don't like those kind of books.   I was pleasantly surprised by how much I actually liked it.   That  book caused me to think about it  for days after I turned the last page.  

     Now the second book in the series is out.  Catching the Fire  by Suzanne Collins  was just as good as the first one.  In this book,  there is an uprising  of the people against  the Gov't.  This uprising is all because of Katniss  and her ways of rebellion  that were shown during  the Hunger Games.  Before  the uprising  turns into a full blown revolution,  Katniss needs to be taken care of,  controlled.  

     I feel little let down, though.  When I finished  Hunger  Games,  I knew that  the next book was already out  so I wouldn't have long to wait to read it.   But  who knows  when the third book will be published  ( 1 or 2 years?)   That is a long time to wait.   A very long time. 

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Nov. 9, 2009 - Dickens-isms

     Mia and I are reading  A Christmas Carol  by Charles Dickens this month.   I stumbled upon this site yesterday  and decided  that I would use some  of Dickens'  quotes  in starting a commonplace book for Mia.    I think I have talked about this type of book before.   It is a book solely for quotes,  songs,  poems,  or Scripture verses  that  speak to you.   Some people use a Commonplace book for figures of Rhetoric,  others use it for  examples of  the virtues  or the Great Ideas.   For now,  I just want Mia to use this book to put in quotes  that speak truth,  beauty and goodness. She will use these verses for copywork  and use her best writing.  I  haven't decided if I will have her do it incursive (she is still a bit shaky with this)  or printing.  I am hoping that if I get her started well,  she will be able to do this on her own  without any prompting from her mom.

     Anyway,  I want to use the Commonplace Book for  some  quotes from Dickens.  There are many  to choose from so we might do a few a week  until we are done  his book of Scrooge.  Here are some  interesting ones  that I copied.

A wonderful fact to reflect upon that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.

An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to a little bit before it will explain itself.

A day wasted on others  is not wasted on one's  self.

I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order and diligence, wihtout the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.

In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice.

Life is made of ever so many partings melded together.

Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried I have tried with all my heart to do it well;  whatever I have devoted myself to,  I have devoted myself completely;  in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.

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Nov. 8, 2009 - Book #47 -- Tell Me Pretty Maiden

       I think I have found an author  who is fast becoming  a favourite.  Rhys Bouwen  is author of many books.  These books belong to  three different series.   I have read books from two of her series  (Her Royal Spyness  and  Molly Murphy)  and have enjoyed them all.   I keep picking up Bouwen's books at the library,  meaning that I stumble upon them,  I don't order them.   I always feel like  I have just met up with an old friend when I come upon one of her books on the shelves.

      The most recent book that I have read of Bouwen's  is  from  the Molly Murphy  series'  Tell Me Pretty Maiden.  It is set in the 1900's.  The main character is a female detective  with wildly boisterous  friends  that always help her  to solve her cases.   This book, as with all of Bouwen's  books,  is chock full of action  and is all tied up in a neat bow at the end.   These books are definitely full mysteries  but, oh!  they are delightful fluff

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Nov. 6, 2009 - What We Did This Week

     This is our first weekly report of the school year.  Why?  Well, this is the firs week that we actually did something on consistent level.   We actually did full days  for the entire school week.  Wahoo!  It felt so good!   I was thinking of  continuing the survival mode of schooling that we have been doing since our little cancer bump  but  last weekend  I had this overwhelming need to get back to life  full tilt.   So we did!  We had an awesome week, too!  

Math

     We have been doing math for the past two months  but it has been hit and miss.  Mia  is  working on rounding numbers  and applying this  to division.   Long division  has been the thorn in our side as of late.  It is hard for Mia to remember all of the steps  as well as remembering when to multiply  or subtract.  Today, though,  she did two sheets of her MUS  book and she did them all on her own  without pleads of help  to me.   

     Rocky  is still working with fractions but this week  it has flowed over to time  and money.  He has done very well with this.  I think our little foray  into  living math last week  helped  him in understanding what fractions were all about.

     Missy  is doing  very well with math right now.   I was a little concerned  last year  as she still didn't  know her numbers.  It wasn't for lack of teaching, either.   She knows her numbers very well now as well her tens.   I am doing the happy dance in my heart because I honestly didn't think she would ever get this.   She is able to recognize the higher numbers as well.   We did some adding  this week  with help from the abacus.  We also played  Swim to Ten,  a  Right Start game.

     Language Arts

     We had a major breakthrough  with  Mia's  spelling this week.   She wrote a story today  about King Arthur.  She wrote it on her own  and did not ask for any spelling help.   She was able to figure out the words  by finger spelling,  a strategy that is  taught by Bartons Reading and Spelling.  This program  is worth  a fortune but it is worth  it!   I have seen such progress in Mia's  spelling  and  Rocky's  reading.    We have  picked up Classical Writing  again.  I am enjoying this program.  It is challenging but fun.  This week our model was a fable by  Joseph Jacobs.   MIa  diagrammed  and marked sentences for parts of speech.   She is doing very well with her diagramming.   I think with  more practise  the marking will come along, too.   We have finished  Little Women  this week.   We had our 'end of the book'  discussion today  and talked about the themes  of the  book.  I am very impressed  with Mia's  thought processes.  She remarked  that she thought Jo  was a female version of Peter Pan  because she didn't want to grow up.    Mia also started  a paper  on the book.   This is her first attempt at this sort of thing so I am giving lots of input  to help guide her.   The paper is simple enough,  she is to discuss the characteristics  of the four March girls.   This is initiating her into writing an intro paragraph and  how to support that paragraph.

     We aren't doing  grammar for awhile yet  so Rocky didn't have too much work this week.  He has started reading  The Magic Tree House books.   I am so proud of him.  Last year at this time,  he couldn't even read Level 1 readers and now he is able to read  simple chapter books.  What is even better is that he is proud of himself as well.   He is  on lesson  4 of Level 3  of Bartons  and he is getting close to the teaching of the spelling rules.    This will be a great challenge for him.   Rocky is also  doing more copywork.   His writing is very sloppy  so I have had him  rub out the illegible  letters  and  attempt them again.   This has brought  many tears  and  hissy fits  this week.   I think I have won the Mean Mom award of the week.   If it means  that I will have a son who can write  so that you can read it,  then I gladly accept the award.

      We are still plugging along in teaching Missy the letter sounds.   The problems she had with numbers last year  are alive and well with her letters this year.  We are moving very slowly.  I am going to order  a program  that will, hopefully, help her with phonemic awareness but this program is so expensive  and we just can't afford it right now.   So we plug along  with  my feeble attempts.

History

     We are now  learning about  King Arthur,  Knights  and Castles.   Rocky loves this era  so he is in his glory.   We read about  what makes a knight,  what a knight wears  and  how they all came to be.  The kids  wrote narrations  as well as stories about King Arthur.  They also wrote  Codes of Honour  for themselves in true scroll-like fashion.   We read some puzzle books on knights.  My kids really like these Usborne books.     We are also reading  The Sword in the Circle  by Rosemary Sutcliff.  I have never read this book before but I am thoroughly enjoying it.  The kids are liking  it, too,  but it is a bit over the head of Missy.  She doesn't have a clue what is going on, but she hides it well.

Morning Time

      Missy is memorizing  The Castle Builder by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  Rocky's poem  is Bed in Summer  Robert Louis Stevenson  and Missy completed  Singing Time  by Robert Louis Stevenson  today.    We are still in the middle  of Hamlet  for our Shakespeare  reading.  For Greek Myths,  we read  The Tale of  Arachne (Missy),  The Gorgon's  Head--The Wnder Tales (Rocky)  and Baucis and Philemon--Age of Fables (Mia.)  

Read Alouds

     Missy and  I started Matilda by Roald Dahl this week.  Missy and I both love  Dahl books.  Matilda is one of our favourites.  Yes,  I know  that the parents  are nasty  and it is wrong for Matilda to get revenge on them  but  it makes my heart sing  when Miss Honey  comes to give  Matilda  the kind of life that she should have had with her parents.  I feel the warm, fuzzies  with this book.

     I am still reading  The Return to the Hundered Acres Wood with Rocky.  Nothing or no one  can replace  A.A.Milne  but  this  book  does well, considering.   Rocky doesn't care who writes it  as long as it about Pooh.

    Mia and I started The Christmas Carol  by Dickens  today.   We aren't going to have book discussions for every book so this is our  'just enjoy it'  book.

    We have a new family read aloud.   We finished  The Magic Half  by Annie Barrows  on Wed.  The Happy Golden Years  by Laura Ingalls Wilder was next on our list.  The kids  and I have been able to have some good discussions on bitterness  after reading about this book's  Mrs. Brewster.  That woman is the epitome of bitterness.

Miscellaneous

     We bought Model Magic  this week and the kids have had great fun in making  all sorts of creations.  This has been our art class  as I am not ready to do anything formal yet.   Mia also started her art class at the Art Gallery.   She  is making stamps  for this class.  She thoroughly enjoyed it.  We were able to do some baking,  exploring,  nature walks  and we saw the most  amazing sunrise  yesterday.  There is nothing  like a Saskatchewan  sunrise (or sunset)  to nudge you to give thanks to the Lord for his awesome creation.

     I am going to do something really nasty.  This post has taken me way too long to  write  and it is past supper time  so I am going to press  SEND  without editing.  Please forgive me.  I promise  I won't make a habit of this  but  I can hear the herd  rebelling  up above me. 

 

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