Hey! All of a sudden, Maxine can read. It seemed to happen within the space of a week, everything just clicked. I think a combination of factors fell together, but we happened to have checked out The Electric Company DVD the previous 2 weeks, and I really think it helped to sink it in. There's all kinds of reading shows out there, but in my opinion, this one is still the best. Spiderman, Paul the Gorilla, the Short Circus, and a sexy young Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader! If you're a child of the 70's, you can relate, but even if you're not, check it out anyway. It's such a funny show.
Another reading resource we love is www.starfall.com. Xiney's been playing these "games" for a couple years. When we're reading together, sometimes I'll refer back to the little animations on here ("when two vowels go a-walkin, the first one does the talkin.")
What else? Well of course, we read together every night. As I write this she's working very hard on her book of Easter crossword puzzles (and debating with me vehemently about how "basket" must be spelled with an "i").
Those who have known us for awhile know that we fully intended on homeschooling before we fell into this school that we love. I do love her school and so does she. I don't post much about it in the interests of privacy, but if you ask I'll talk your ear off about it. But this whole reading thing kind of brings me back to homeschooling thoughts, because although her classroom has given her some good reinforcement, she's definately put it all together naturally, at home. I didn't even have to do anything special. So even though we're not the unschoolers we planned on being, my thoughts on how and why children learn are still the same.
