Some new read alouds I'm excited about:
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Times are tough around the little brown house! The widowed Mrs. Pepper has to sew all day long just to earn enough to pay the rent and to feed the five growing Peppers. But she faces poverty and trouble with a stout heart, a smiling face, and the help of her jolly brood: blue-eyed Ben, the eldest and the man of the house at the age of 11; pretty Polly, so eager to cook for the family and make everyone happy and comfortable; and the three littlest Peppers, Joel, Davie, and baby Phronsie. A favorite of children, parents, and teachers for generations, this heartwarming classic first appeared in 1880. Since then, it has inspired countless young imaginations with its tender tales of the ways in which courage and good cheer can overcome adversity. |
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Summer with the Moodys is the first book in the Moody Family Series. This book celebrates the adventures of everyday life in a Christian family. Come along with the Moodys as they help a widowed neighbor, start small businesses for the children, enjoy a family fun night, live normal life, and wrap up the book with two special surprises! Woven throughout the book is the Moodys' love for the Lord and their enjoyment of time together. Children (parents too!) will love Mr. and Mrs. Moody, Max, Mollie, Mitch, and Maddie—they'll come away challenged and encouraged. |
The Moody books are wholesome stories about a homeschooled family, authored by the adult daughter of Steve and Terri Maxwell (Manager's of Their Homes authors and Titus2.com creators). We are nearly done with the
Miller Family series, which has really blessed us, and I wanted something similar to continue the joy.
FYI: I've mentioned the Miller books a number of times, but I didn't warn you about some content. They were written by a Mennonite author so there are two stories that might raise your eyebrows: one is about pacifism, which the Mennonites are know for. It comes up along with a discussion about Memorial Day. The other is about wearing plain colors so as not to draw attention to yourself. Both stories are just a few pages so very small parts of the whole series. We read these stories anyway and just explained how we differ from these views.
Don't let that scare you away though--these books are the best devotionals I've used with children by far. My children loved them and began to incorporate the Christian principles into their daily behavior. Most of the stories are based on one of the Proverbs, and many are also missionary stories.
Our Dyslexia Life
When you walk into my girls' room, you would expect to see the horses on their comforters facing as shown in this picture, but Mary consistently faces the horses the other way, so that they look upside down when you walk into the room. I've explained that the picture should look right-side up when you walk into the room, but that isn't enough of a hint for her. I started putting it the right way so she would get used to that perspective, but that hasn't helped. The next morning, I see it upside down again (and not because of defiance).
It's the same with her numbers. Giving her strategies to form the numbers to 9 the correct way hasn't helped much. She reverses them 50% of the time, and she has never once when writing a teen number remembered right away which digit comes first, even though she understands place value. I'm not frustrated with her, but I'm at a loss as to how to help her. I suspect time will be the answer. Dyslexics don't enjoy the same automaticity which the rest of us take for granted. Many things involving a perspective (a certain direction) are difficult for them.
The school secretary at the elementary school I taught at lived fairly close to the school, but when she first began working there she couldn't figure out which way to turn out of the school driveway to drive home (she has dyslexia). Her husband came after work and she followed him home for a couple months until she could do it on her own. Putting signs on her dashboard didn't help because in her mind she could make the sign mean left or right, depending on the perspective she looked at them from. Still, I will try putting a horse picture above Mary's bed showing the way the horse should face when you walk into the room.
Beth has similar problems. This week she made many little paper books, and she kept fastening them to open the wrong way (fastening the pages on the right instead of the left). After correcting her a few times, I got a book and had her compare her homemade paper books with the professional picture book, and she couldn't see the difference right away! By late Thursday though, she got it. I've been reading to her since her early infancy, so it wasn't a lack of experience with books that caused this.
This week I also noticed that when Beth decodes a word, she starts from the right instead of the left about 35% of the time, and doesn't realize the mistake until I point it out.
2 comments:
That looks like a great week! I am so happy to find other SL'ers in the blogosphere. :) Thanks for stopping by.
I just sold my complete Moody's series of books after having enjoyed them with my children. Good stuff! {And I notice a link to Compassion in your sidebar, I sponsor a lovely girl from Rwanda through Compassion. What a great company they are!}
Oh yes, I love the Compassion kids. They are such a blessing! Thank you for stopping here--as I said you are the only one I've seen who also uses Sonlight.
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