Everybody tells you that if kids don’t keep up with reading and other scholarly activities over the summer, they can lose as much as half of what they gained the previous year. So it is important to work at maintaining the gains made.
I’m not 100% sure I believe that completely, given my experience with Mustang. Between Grade 1 and 2 I worked hard with her on reading. She slogged, I pushed, she complained, I insisted, she resisted, I stood firm. By the end of the summer I felt she had made good progress from where she had been at the end of Grade 1. She went back to school and – bingo! – her reading level slipped back right to where it had been at the end of Grade 1, virtually overnight. The regression didn’t last that long – by the end of September she was back at end-August capabilities, at which point I told her teacher to send home harder books for her to read.
Between Grade 2 and 3 I again really focused on reading, reading, reading. (I was off work all summer, so I was able to be persistent and pull out the current book two or three times a day.) For the first few weeks it was painful – slow and resistant. But by mid-July she picked up the pace, started reading much better and saying she actually enjoyed it. She wanted to try to read one book in a day – didn’t quite make it, but did manage to read 9 chapters (out of 10) in one day once. By the end of the summer she’d read 26 chapter books, which is quite an accomplishment for a dyslexic kid. When she went back to school I was watching for signs of regression, and again saw some though not as bad as at the beginning of Grade 2.
This just makes me wonder if perhaps the “regression” comes not from not working over the summer, but is somehow affected by the return to school. Of course, this is Mustang we’re talking about, so it may just be particular to her. It will be interesting to see how things go with Button from one year to the next.
In any case, this past summer we had learning activities too. Mustang was still working on her Brain Games, so that was the emphasis for the summer. Much less time was devoted to reading practice, though she still got through 5 chapter books. I also purchased a Grade 4 science workbook, with an eye to giving her some prior exposure to the concepts and vocabulary of the Grade 4 science curriculum. We were diligent at that through to the end of July, and then some day-camps and just wanting “time off” intervened. But she managed to get through about half of the units. The book did not go into great depth, but was sufficient for my purposes. I hope to pull it out again once she starts the units we missed (or perhaps over Christmas) to help provide extra support and exposure to the materials. We also watched a whole bunch of related videos borrowed from the public library, to provide another means of consolidating learning. While Mustang is good in science and enjoys it, she benefits from “pre-teaching” of concepts and vocabulary, so I am hoping this summer work will contribute to her success in science this year.
Similarly, a review of the Grade 4 social studies curriculum showed they will be focusing on Canadian geography and the Middle Ages. I found several children’s novels and videos about the Middle Ages and we’ve watched/read several of them. It’s harder to find novels about Canadian geography, but I’ve found one series in which the heroes move around from place to place in Canada, so hopefully that will be relevant. I also picked up a wall map and some pictures of Canadian symbols (beaver, maple leaf, RCMP, etc.).
As for Button, his summer work was a lot less extensive. For a few weeks in July we worked on his sight word recognition and “reading.” He also had a Grade 1 workbook he worked in all summer long, doing 6-10 pages every day (very simple stuff, covering phonics, vocabulary, math, science, and the like). He didn’t quite make it through the workbook, but completed over half of it.
Button also played soccer all summer, two evenings a week with a local league that has a developmental program. He really enjoyed it, and at the end his coach says he shows real talent and is a super fast runner. Mustang took riding lessons again, though unfortunately she missed three of the eight lessons (one absence planned, the other two not).
As a reward for all their hard work, in July we visited the Aerial Adventure in the nearby hills, and at the end of August I took them to the Fair, at which we rode rides all afternoon, saw lots of animals, and ate ice cream and fries.
Of course, not all learning comes out of books. So I tried to make the various activities we engaged in fun and to seek learning opportunities in everything. We went camping, fishing, playing at the beach; the kids each went to two day-camps: for Mustang, farm animals and being an “emergency vet,” for Button, farm animals and soccer. And just going for walks in the woods, catching frogs at the pond, and of course, watching puppies being born and helping to care for them.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
16 September 2009
15 September 2009
Back to School!!!
The kids went back to school two weeks ago today. (Yes, I’m behind in my blogging.)
Mustang: Grade 4
Button: Grade 1 – French immersion
As far as clothes goes, they didn’t need much – just a couple of long-sleeved shirts each, and some trousers for Button as he’d either outgrown or worn out almost everything from last year. And some new runners – Button’s wearing the same size as Mustang, and it won’t be more than another year or so and they’ll both be able to wear my shoes!
So the fateful morning dawned, sunny and warm, and we all traipsed off to the bus stop by 7:30 to make sure we were there in good time. Took the requisite “back-to-school” photos on the front step, with the kids in their new duds. Mustang’s backpack weighed a ton, stuffed with all her new supplies, and each had a large lunch-bag as well (since Button didn’t have so much to take to school, I stuffed his lunch-bag into his backpack). They have a new driver this year, and he dutifully checked all the kids’ names off his list, then we waved good-bye and they were off!
Mustang in particular was a bit apprehensive about heading back to school – worried that the work would be a lot harder and she would have trouble keeping up. Button said he didn’t want to do French immersion because he wanted to stay with the friends he’d made last year. I said he had to go for at least a month before making a change. When they got home at the end of the day, both were happy – Button knew some of the kids in his class, and Mustang said it was easy and there wouldn’t be any homework for a few weeks.
And so a new year is launched!
08 May 2009
Natural scientists
As those of you who know her are aware, Mustang is intensely curious about the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it. Button follows her lead. Walks through the local little forest, and trips to the pond, are daily favourites come springtime. There, we observe the birds, catch butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and frogs (and even a praying mantis, two summers ago), chase squirrels, catch glimpses of rabbits and fox, see the ducklings swimming with their mothers and daddies, and generally have lots of fun.
They had brought all these creatures back to our house and put them in an empty sand box-cum-swimming pool filled with pond and rain-water. (I have impressed upon them when collecting frogs’ eggs last and this year that they should not use tap water with these creatures, as the chlorine in the tap water could kill them.) Into the pool went a small tree-trunk cross-section and a plastic container for “islands,” and into the plastic container the children placed the mating toads – “because they’re land creatures.”
This morning, immediately after getting dressed, they had to go say hi! to the critters.
Lo and behold, a string of eggs was hy the female! Mustang promptly took and put it in the big container of frogs’ eggs sitting on our patio table (collected this past weekend - and some have already hatched!).
This has been an occasion of much learning already:
- that males can be smaller than females. At first they thought the toad on the bottom was the male, as it was bigger, but this morning Mustang asked me “Where do the eggs come from?” She was puzzled that they were hanging from the larger toad, the one on the bottom. So they learned that, while in the mammal world the male is usually bigger, in other species – likes these toads – the female is often larger.
- how fertilization occurs in amphibians. Mustang noticed that the toad on top was “squirting some white stuff” onto the eggs. I said the white stuff was the sperm (also known as spelt) and that this was how the eggs were fertilized.
- the proper environment for toad eggs. Since toads are “land creatures” Button wondered whether it was okay to put the toad eggs into the bucket of water with the frogs’ eggs (at least we presume they are frogs’ eggs!). I said that toads, like frogs, are amphibians, meaning they hatch and grow first in water, then move onto land. Frogs generally live in or near water even when grown, but toads tend to leave the water environment permanently once they reach adulthood.
I have told the kids that we will keep some of the toad’s eggs but should return some of them to the pond, to ensure that at least some of the toads have a chance to hatch and grow there, in case ours suffer any mishap or don’t grow properly for any reason. We will also return the frogs and toads themselves, either today or tomorrow. They are accepting of this. (It helps, I think, that we have already had a wild creature or two die in our “care” from over-handling…)
24 February 2009
Official diagnosis
Mother’s instincts triumph again…
This morning I saw the psychologist who has been doing Mustang’s psycho-educational assessment, to review his findings. They show that, indeed, Mustang has a learning disability. She assesses very high (high average to significantly above average) in three areas of intellectual capacity, and very significantly below average in “working memory.” This type of inconsistency, coupled with lower-than-expected achievement in terms of school performance (and the lack of any other explanation, such as illness, depression, home environment factors, etc), is the hallmark of a learning disability.
Thankfully, the school has been proactive and has already started to take measures to address her learning issues. The psychologist will be making several recommendations that should have the effect, if followed, of reinforcing and extending the type of services available to Mustang through the school system. It may take until the end of this school year to get everything in place, but this will lay the foundation for continuing support and instructional modifications for future years.
I’ve known since early Grade 1 that things just weren’t clicking like they should. Now it’s official.
This morning I saw the psychologist who has been doing Mustang’s psycho-educational assessment, to review his findings. They show that, indeed, Mustang has a learning disability. She assesses very high (high average to significantly above average) in three areas of intellectual capacity, and very significantly below average in “working memory.” This type of inconsistency, coupled with lower-than-expected achievement in terms of school performance (and the lack of any other explanation, such as illness, depression, home environment factors, etc), is the hallmark of a learning disability.
Thankfully, the school has been proactive and has already started to take measures to address her learning issues. The psychologist will be making several recommendations that should have the effect, if followed, of reinforcing and extending the type of services available to Mustang through the school system. It may take until the end of this school year to get everything in place, but this will lay the foundation for continuing support and instructional modifications for future years.
I’ve known since early Grade 1 that things just weren’t clicking like they should. Now it’s official.
23 February 2009
Flu, stories, puzzles
This past weekend, it was Mustang’s turn to be sick again, this time with flu. High fever, chills, fatigue (thankfully no vomiting). We had a quiet Saturday at home.
Button stayed home from skiing lesson as he developed a sore foot, the cure for which would have been for me to stay at the ski chalet as usual to “watch” him and our companion skier friend instead of dropping them off and coming back home to be with Mustang. As I wasn’t willing to leave Mustang with Nanny all day (on Nanny’s regular day off), his sore foot remained incurable and prevented him from having an active and fun outdoor day.
We listened to books on CD, read stories, watched a short movie, and did lots of puzzles. The latter were mostly done by Button and me as Mustang didn’t even have energy for much puzzling. She mostly lay on the sofa and listened to the stories on CD. We finished off Magic Tree House book #16, Hour of the Olympics, then listened to CS Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew, and even started on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I called various church people to trade off Sunday School teaching duties and to apologize in advance for Mustang missing her choir’s performance of a song in the church service.
As it turned out, by Sunday morning the fever had broken and Mustang had a lot more energy, but we still stayed home to have a restful day to stave off a relapse and gather energy for school. Finished listening to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, watched another movie, did more puzzles… In the afternoon we made a short excursion to Scholar’s Choice to buy a few more puzzles – we’d done every single one in the house, save one, and the kids wanted more. I happened to know the store had a buy-2-get-1-free sale on Ravensburger puzzles, and with the kids’ saved allowance money they’d have enough to each make a purchase (and I snuck in the free one for a later occasion). So we nipped over and they each chose, not the unicorn puzzles they’d started out saying they wanted, but some other lovely pictures from the 300-piece puzzle selection.
Got home, dumped them out on the table, and set to work.
As the 300-piece puzzles are labelled as for age 9+, I’d steered Button (age almost-6) towards one that I figured would among the easier of the lot (dolphins jumping out of ocean against sunset sky), with lots of colour in distinct bands and a nice, clear picture with easy-to-distinguish detail. He set to with gusto, refusing all offers of help, and in about two hours managed to complete about half the puzzle all on his own. The picture chosen by Mustang (age almost-9), while very cute (Mommy giraffe “kissing” baby giraffe, with several other giraffes, against a savannah background), was harder as there were really only three distinct colour groups (sky, trees/grass, giraffes), each of which occurred in three or four different places. She grew somewhat discouraged as the pieces didn’t just “pop” into place – though largely, I think, owing to it being already late in the afternoon and she was growing tired.
After the kids went to bed I continued working on the puzzles, almost completing Button’s (with his blessing!) and doing almost half of Mustang’s. Monday morning, they hopped out of bed and raced downstairs to work on the puzzles. Button easily fitted the final 17 pieces into place (he’d told me I should almost finish it, but leave some for him to do), and Mustang made progress with the giraffes and trees. She wanted to finish it before school but, alas, there wasn’t quite time, though between the two of them they’d gotten all but about 30 pieces done.
Conclusion: I think it’s about time to take the 24- and 48-piece puzzles in our collection to Value Village (or pass them on to someone with younger kids) as the kids can whip them up in no time already. They’re at the stage where 100 pieces is about the minimum that holds any challenge, even for Button.
Button stayed home from skiing lesson as he developed a sore foot, the cure for which would have been for me to stay at the ski chalet as usual to “watch” him and our companion skier friend instead of dropping them off and coming back home to be with Mustang. As I wasn’t willing to leave Mustang with Nanny all day (on Nanny’s regular day off), his sore foot remained incurable and prevented him from having an active and fun outdoor day.
We listened to books on CD, read stories, watched a short movie, and did lots of puzzles. The latter were mostly done by Button and me as Mustang didn’t even have energy for much puzzling. She mostly lay on the sofa and listened to the stories on CD. We finished off Magic Tree House book #16, Hour of the Olympics, then listened to CS Lewis’s The Magician’s Nephew, and even started on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I called various church people to trade off Sunday School teaching duties and to apologize in advance for Mustang missing her choir’s performance of a song in the church service.
As it turned out, by Sunday morning the fever had broken and Mustang had a lot more energy, but we still stayed home to have a restful day to stave off a relapse and gather energy for school. Finished listening to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, watched another movie, did more puzzles… In the afternoon we made a short excursion to Scholar’s Choice to buy a few more puzzles – we’d done every single one in the house, save one, and the kids wanted more. I happened to know the store had a buy-2-get-1-free sale on Ravensburger puzzles, and with the kids’ saved allowance money they’d have enough to each make a purchase (and I snuck in the free one for a later occasion). So we nipped over and they each chose, not the unicorn puzzles they’d started out saying they wanted, but some other lovely pictures from the 300-piece puzzle selection.
Got home, dumped them out on the table, and set to work.
As the 300-piece puzzles are labelled as for age 9+, I’d steered Button (age almost-6) towards one that I figured would among the easier of the lot (dolphins jumping out of ocean against sunset sky), with lots of colour in distinct bands and a nice, clear picture with easy-to-distinguish detail. He set to with gusto, refusing all offers of help, and in about two hours managed to complete about half the puzzle all on his own. The picture chosen by Mustang (age almost-9), while very cute (Mommy giraffe “kissing” baby giraffe, with several other giraffes, against a savannah background), was harder as there were really only three distinct colour groups (sky, trees/grass, giraffes), each of which occurred in three or four different places. She grew somewhat discouraged as the pieces didn’t just “pop” into place – though largely, I think, owing to it being already late in the afternoon and she was growing tired.
After the kids went to bed I continued working on the puzzles, almost completing Button’s (with his blessing!) and doing almost half of Mustang’s. Monday morning, they hopped out of bed and raced downstairs to work on the puzzles. Button easily fitted the final 17 pieces into place (he’d told me I should almost finish it, but leave some for him to do), and Mustang made progress with the giraffes and trees. She wanted to finish it before school but, alas, there wasn’t quite time, though between the two of them they’d gotten all but about 30 pieces done.
Conclusion: I think it’s about time to take the 24- and 48-piece puzzles in our collection to Value Village (or pass them on to someone with younger kids) as the kids can whip them up in no time already. They’re at the stage where 100 pieces is about the minimum that holds any challenge, even for Button.
19 February 2009
Mathematical Thinking
On Monday, Button remarked to me that when he was in Ethiopia, he thought 0 (zero) just meant “nothing.”
But now – by implication – after seeing numerals like 100 and 1000 and realizing that that means a whole bunch, he understands that 0 can also be part of a numeral representing something big.
So he is beginning to form an understanding of “place value,” that 0 can be a place holder for “nothing of a particular size” within a numeral of several digits. This is a key concept for mathematical thinking in Grade 1 and beyond, when the kids start working with multiple digit numerals and doing adding and subtracting involving carrying over or borrowing.
But now – by implication – after seeing numerals like 100 and 1000 and realizing that that means a whole bunch, he understands that 0 can also be part of a numeral representing something big.
So he is beginning to form an understanding of “place value,” that 0 can be a place holder for “nothing of a particular size” within a numeral of several digits. This is a key concept for mathematical thinking in Grade 1 and beyond, when the kids start working with multiple digit numerals and doing adding and subtracting involving carrying over or borrowing.
11 February 2009
Poles!
Mustang’s ski instructor told her last Saturday that she’s ready to start skiing with poles!!! They start the kids off with no poles, to ensure proper balance and control, and add poles once they’ve demonstrated good technique. Mustang was quite excited about this; she’s been wanting to use poles since her first day skiing.
Our friend DC came skiing with us last Saturday; she took the kids down the big hill once before their class and again after lunch for about two and a half hours. She said “they’re little speed demons!” – yes, they both like going fast, especially Button. I climbed partway up one of the slopes to watch them come down; close to where I stood was a little section of bumps. The kids aimed for the bumps to get some lift under their skis; Button fell both times I saw him try to go over (but that didn’t deter him the slightest!), whereas Mustang fell once but the second time she made it over upright.
Kids are looking forward to a long weekend – PD Day on Friday and provincial holiday on Monday. Nothing much scheduled, just fun time at home and of course skiing on Saturday. Button was coughing a lot this morning; hope he doesn’t come down with bronchitis like Mustang had week before last.
I think I’ve found a series of exercises to work on spelling that will work better than the routine stuff her teacher was sending home as spelling practice. One evening we spell the words using clay letters; one evening practice typing them; one evening use a special mat with alphabet letter cards to spell them; and one evening do some pencil & paper practice. More varied, more hands-on, and gets the typing involved too. She’s got almost the whole alphabet down with the typing; just a few letters on the bottom row left to learn. We’ve only been using this routine for a few weeks so I’m not 100% sure how well it will work, but it seems a better “fit” to me at least.
Now I’m turning my attention to trying to figure out how to work with her on math. Again, looking for some more hands-on activities as well as potentially software or games that can both teach and reinforce the math concepts and provide more practice. Any ideas?
Our friend DC came skiing with us last Saturday; she took the kids down the big hill once before their class and again after lunch for about two and a half hours. She said “they’re little speed demons!” – yes, they both like going fast, especially Button. I climbed partway up one of the slopes to watch them come down; close to where I stood was a little section of bumps. The kids aimed for the bumps to get some lift under their skis; Button fell both times I saw him try to go over (but that didn’t deter him the slightest!), whereas Mustang fell once but the second time she made it over upright.
Kids are looking forward to a long weekend – PD Day on Friday and provincial holiday on Monday. Nothing much scheduled, just fun time at home and of course skiing on Saturday. Button was coughing a lot this morning; hope he doesn’t come down with bronchitis like Mustang had week before last.
I think I’ve found a series of exercises to work on spelling that will work better than the routine stuff her teacher was sending home as spelling practice. One evening we spell the words using clay letters; one evening practice typing them; one evening use a special mat with alphabet letter cards to spell them; and one evening do some pencil & paper practice. More varied, more hands-on, and gets the typing involved too. She’s got almost the whole alphabet down with the typing; just a few letters on the bottom row left to learn. We’ve only been using this routine for a few weeks so I’m not 100% sure how well it will work, but it seems a better “fit” to me at least.
Now I’m turning my attention to trying to figure out how to work with her on math. Again, looking for some more hands-on activities as well as potentially software or games that can both teach and reinforce the math concepts and provide more practice. Any ideas?
02 December 2008
Report Card Day
Yesterday was report card day. Mustang’s teachers have worked in the past couple of weeks to prepare an IEP (Individual Education Plan) for her so that, in their words, she could be given marks reflective of the effort she is putting in. Her IEP focuses on reading, writing and math. With the IEP in place, she received very good marks – mostly Bs.
So far we have really focused at home on her reading skills. That is no doubt why her reading is approaching grade level. Her teachers say that whenever there’s a break in the work and she has a bit of “free time” or she’s done what’s expected, she’ll pull out a book and read. Yesterday she took to school the Magic Tree House #30 which she received as an Advent present on Sunday, because she wanted to get right at it. They view it as a good sign that she likes books and reading so much, despite still struggling with it. So do I.
It’s high time, though, I started working more on math with her. We’ve done occasional bits of review and practice, but nothing sustained or systematic, which is really what’s required.
The thing is that she already works so hard in school, I don’t want to overload her with work at home. If we do 20 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of typing, and 10 minutes of math every day, that’s a pretty heavy workload already for an 8-year-old. Add to that the school-issued homework – perhaps 10 minutes of spelling practice three or four nights a week, plus one page of language arts and two pages of math homework per week that we try to complete in two nights (so as to keep the weekend free of school-issued homework) – and it really adds up. (By mid-January I'm hoping that she will have good enough keyboarding skills that spelling practice and typing practice can be integrated at least in part.) But Mustang is beginning to recognize more and more that to make progress she will have to work harder than many other kids. But she still needs time just to be a kid and have fun.
As for Button, being in Kindergarten, he did not receive a report card this term. I will meet with his teacher on Thursday to discuss his progress, but no formal report card is prepared for Kindergartners until term 2.
Off-hand, I’d say he’s doing quite well. He’s recognizing letters and numbers, can count fairly reliably to 20 (though for some reason 15 if often dropped!), can do some basic addition counting on his fingers, has a pretty good number sense, is getting better at printing the letters and numbers, and likes to (pretend to) read.
When he’s playing on some of the kids’ websites on my computer, he’s quite capable of using the Favourites to get to some bookmarked sites, based on recognition of the first letter of the word or words that make up the shortcut and their position in the list.
And the other day, playing a number recognition math game on the kids’ computer (counting the number of balls on the screen and then clicking on the right number), he used a “short-cut” strategy to try to get the answer – if there were lots of balls on the screen he’d pick the biggest number first, rather than stop to count them. Unfortunately for him, this resulted in a lot of wrong answers (he’d pick 10 when there were really 9 balls, for example) – but I found it interesting that he already had the sense of large quantity relating to high numbers and knew which ones those were!
So far we have really focused at home on her reading skills. That is no doubt why her reading is approaching grade level. Her teachers say that whenever there’s a break in the work and she has a bit of “free time” or she’s done what’s expected, she’ll pull out a book and read. Yesterday she took to school the Magic Tree House #30 which she received as an Advent present on Sunday, because she wanted to get right at it. They view it as a good sign that she likes books and reading so much, despite still struggling with it. So do I.
It’s high time, though, I started working more on math with her. We’ve done occasional bits of review and practice, but nothing sustained or systematic, which is really what’s required.
The thing is that she already works so hard in school, I don’t want to overload her with work at home. If we do 20 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of typing, and 10 minutes of math every day, that’s a pretty heavy workload already for an 8-year-old. Add to that the school-issued homework – perhaps 10 minutes of spelling practice three or four nights a week, plus one page of language arts and two pages of math homework per week that we try to complete in two nights (so as to keep the weekend free of school-issued homework) – and it really adds up. (By mid-January I'm hoping that she will have good enough keyboarding skills that spelling practice and typing practice can be integrated at least in part.) But Mustang is beginning to recognize more and more that to make progress she will have to work harder than many other kids. But she still needs time just to be a kid and have fun.
As for Button, being in Kindergarten, he did not receive a report card this term. I will meet with his teacher on Thursday to discuss his progress, but no formal report card is prepared for Kindergartners until term 2.
Off-hand, I’d say he’s doing quite well. He’s recognizing letters and numbers, can count fairly reliably to 20 (though for some reason 15 if often dropped!), can do some basic addition counting on his fingers, has a pretty good number sense, is getting better at printing the letters and numbers, and likes to (pretend to) read.
When he’s playing on some of the kids’ websites on my computer, he’s quite capable of using the Favourites to get to some bookmarked sites, based on recognition of the first letter of the word or words that make up the shortcut and their position in the list.
And the other day, playing a number recognition math game on the kids’ computer (counting the number of balls on the screen and then clicking on the right number), he used a “short-cut” strategy to try to get the answer – if there were lots of balls on the screen he’d pick the biggest number first, rather than stop to count them. Unfortunately for him, this resulted in a lot of wrong answers (he’d pick 10 when there were really 9 balls, for example) – but I found it interesting that he already had the sense of large quantity relating to high numbers and knew which ones those were!
27 November 2008
Mustang learns to sew
Back in early autumn, Mustang said she wanted to learn to sew. She’s 8 now (actually 8 1/2 as of last Friday!), so I figured she was old enough to learn to use the sewing machine. I think I was around 8 when I first started sewing.
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I had bought a whole bunch of fabric for a variety of projects, including some short lengths of flannel for the kids to use as blankets for their stuffies. Owing to getting two of the (similar) fabrics mixed up at the cutting table, I’d ended up with 2m rather 0.5m of the flannel for Button’s stuffy blanket.
So for a first project I told Mustang she could make a two-sided blanket for her stuffies. We took the 0.5m of panda flannel she had selected and cut a 0.5m length from the extra piece of Button’s snowflake flannel. Put them good sides together and all she had to do was sew around the four edges, leaving a small opening to turn it inside out. We then ironed it out nicely and she sewed the opening shut. This didn’t take long, so at the end of the morning Mustang had a beautiful two-sided blanket for her stuffies!
Since then she hasn't done a lot of sewing, though several of the prezzie projects for friends have involved making a few seams which I have had her do.
One of the bigger projects for which I bought material back in September was to make a fleece outfit for each kid. I had her work with me in cutting out the material for her outfit. Since then the pieces have just been sitting there, as I've been busy working on other projects and the kids prezzie projects have taken priority. But now (finally!) the fleece outfits are next on the agenda - along with a set of jammies for me. We bought flannel for jammies for each of us, and while I sewed the kids' up first thing - Mustang's wearing her new jammies in the photos here - the cut pieces for mine have been sitting there, near the bottom of the priority list.
Hmm, maybe I'll see if Mustang might like to help sew them together!!
03 October 2008
Learning disabilities
On Monday I will be going to a preliminary appointment with a psychologist as the first step in having Mustang tested for learning disabilities.
I am by now convinced that she is, indeed, affected by learning disabilities. But we will need the psychological assessment to “prove” it. (Of course, I could be wrong, but I doubt it.)
In the past week or so I have done some more research into learning disabilities and their manifestations. The more I read, the more certain I am. So much of what I see is 100% Mustang. (Not all, but enough.)
She has experienced great difficulty in learning to read. Not uncommon, I know, but it is the nature and especially the persistence of her difficulties that has led to concern. While her reading has improved remarkably, and she can now read simple texts without assistance, she still has great difficulty in decoding new words, and in spelling.
On the other hand, she is a great talker. I remember last Christmas, we were reading Christmas stories and she wanted to tell the Christmas story. She proceeded to do so in great detail, right from the annunciation to the flight to Egypt! (I was duly impressed.)
Math has also been a challenge. Again, not uncommon, but again the degree and persistence of the challenge lead to concern.
On the other hand, she has great knowledge in many areas. Especially about animals (horses!!!), bugs, flowers, and so on. She loves being read to and remembers much of what is read to her. She also loves having stories told to her. (Most times, the instant we get into the car I hear “Mommy, can you tell a story?” She wants stories about animals with NO PEOPLE. And frequently animals having babies.) We also enjoy watching nature and other informational videos and she gains much knowledge from these. (I generally limit movie-watching to once a week but may make an exception for a learning video.)
Her marks in school reflect this. She does quite well in “knowledge” and creative areas (art, drama, social studies, science, health, phys ed) and less well in the academic areas (language and math). But as she moves forward in school, success in the “knowledge” areas is going to depend more and more on her capabilities in the academic areas, as the former begin to draw more heavily on reading and math skills.
Though Mustang generally enjoys school, she is definitely aware that other kids seem to catch on better and more easily than she does. And she is beginning to be more and more aware of some of the ways in which she finds it hard to control her behaviour (impulsivity). It is at time like this, when she expresses self-doubt, insecurity, and sorrow at having a brain that is “wired differently,” that my heart breaks.
My hope is that, if learning disabilities can be identified and accommodations put into place to enable her to succeed despite them, she will not become discouraged or disheartened at the academic challenges she faces. I want her to succeed in school and to enjoy school. And above all, I want her to succeed as a person and be happy, confident, and sure of her own worth and value.
So far, most of what I’ve found on-line relates to defining learning disabilities and their manifestations. I have yet to find much on how to deal with them. That’s what the psychologist’s report, hopefully, will help to identify: what different methods can be used in school and at home that will help Mustang to learn better.
I ask you to pray that this process will be fruitful, and that Mustang will learn to cope well with whatever challenges she faces.
Addenda
Definition of learning disabilities
Understanding learning disabilities
Some common signs of learning disabilities
Learning Disabilities Association of Canada
I am by now convinced that she is, indeed, affected by learning disabilities. But we will need the psychological assessment to “prove” it. (Of course, I could be wrong, but I doubt it.)
In the past week or so I have done some more research into learning disabilities and their manifestations. The more I read, the more certain I am. So much of what I see is 100% Mustang. (Not all, but enough.)
She has experienced great difficulty in learning to read. Not uncommon, I know, but it is the nature and especially the persistence of her difficulties that has led to concern. While her reading has improved remarkably, and she can now read simple texts without assistance, she still has great difficulty in decoding new words, and in spelling.
On the other hand, she is a great talker. I remember last Christmas, we were reading Christmas stories and she wanted to tell the Christmas story. She proceeded to do so in great detail, right from the annunciation to the flight to Egypt! (I was duly impressed.)
Math has also been a challenge. Again, not uncommon, but again the degree and persistence of the challenge lead to concern.
On the other hand, she has great knowledge in many areas. Especially about animals (horses!!!), bugs, flowers, and so on. She loves being read to and remembers much of what is read to her. She also loves having stories told to her. (Most times, the instant we get into the car I hear “Mommy, can you tell a story?” She wants stories about animals with NO PEOPLE. And frequently animals having babies.) We also enjoy watching nature and other informational videos and she gains much knowledge from these. (I generally limit movie-watching to once a week but may make an exception for a learning video.)
Her marks in school reflect this. She does quite well in “knowledge” and creative areas (art, drama, social studies, science, health, phys ed) and less well in the academic areas (language and math). But as she moves forward in school, success in the “knowledge” areas is going to depend more and more on her capabilities in the academic areas, as the former begin to draw more heavily on reading and math skills.
Though Mustang generally enjoys school, she is definitely aware that other kids seem to catch on better and more easily than she does. And she is beginning to be more and more aware of some of the ways in which she finds it hard to control her behaviour (impulsivity). It is at time like this, when she expresses self-doubt, insecurity, and sorrow at having a brain that is “wired differently,” that my heart breaks.
My hope is that, if learning disabilities can be identified and accommodations put into place to enable her to succeed despite them, she will not become discouraged or disheartened at the academic challenges she faces. I want her to succeed in school and to enjoy school. And above all, I want her to succeed as a person and be happy, confident, and sure of her own worth and value.
So far, most of what I’ve found on-line relates to defining learning disabilities and their manifestations. I have yet to find much on how to deal with them. That’s what the psychologist’s report, hopefully, will help to identify: what different methods can be used in school and at home that will help Mustang to learn better.
I ask you to pray that this process will be fruitful, and that Mustang will learn to cope well with whatever challenges she faces.
Addenda
Definition of learning disabilities
Understanding learning disabilities
Some common signs of learning disabilities
Learning Disabilities Association of Canada
29 October 2007
Summer retrospective - #2: bugs (and other small creatures) (2007-09-17)
(Originally posted on 17 September 2007.)
This summer Laolao made a major investment in grandchild entertainment. She bought a butterfly net for $1.00. (Then, since it wouldn’t fit in any of our suitcases, she bought another one here in Ottawa!)
The butterfly net has produced endless hours of fun. And, frankly, not just fun, but learning about the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it. The monarch butterfly was a major target, with many trips to the woods to chase them, not all successful. For lack of monarchs, other butterflies that were in netting range have all fallen prey (temporarily) to the net.
One interesting thing about taking up this type of activity is that one starts to notice things one never noticed before. For example, different types of butterflies have different flight patterns. The monarch tends to fly high and swooping, making it quite challenging to catch. The small white cabbage butterfly flits here and there, low to the bushes but in what one thinks of as typical butterfly behaviour, changing direction repeatedly and quickly. Other butterflies are slower and not as prone to being startled, making them very easy to catch, even with one’s hands.
Another thing one begins to notice is the variety of butterflies that inhabit a given area. In one afternoon in the mountains, Giggles caught four different kinds of butterflies. I’ve lerned to identify the Clouded Sulphur, the White Admiral, the Cabbage White, and a couple of others.
Giggles is not content, however, catching just butterflies. Almost anything that moves is subject to catching, examination, and retention (until Mommy convinces her that the creature would really like to go free). So far this past summer, the following creatures have briefly taken up residence in an empty pickle jar or cookie jar:
This summer Laolao made a major investment in grandchild entertainment. She bought a butterfly net for $1.00. (Then, since it wouldn’t fit in any of our suitcases, she bought another one here in Ottawa!)
The butterfly net has produced endless hours of fun. And, frankly, not just fun, but learning about the natural world and the creatures that inhabit it. The monarch butterfly was a major target, with many trips to the woods to chase them, not all successful. For lack of monarchs, other butterflies that were in netting range have all fallen prey (temporarily) to the net.
One interesting thing about taking up this type of activity is that one starts to notice things one never noticed before. For example, different types of butterflies have different flight patterns. The monarch tends to fly high and swooping, making it quite challenging to catch. The small white cabbage butterfly flits here and there, low to the bushes but in what one thinks of as typical butterfly behaviour, changing direction repeatedly and quickly. Other butterflies are slower and not as prone to being startled, making them very easy to catch, even with one’s hands.
Another thing one begins to notice is the variety of butterflies that inhabit a given area. In one afternoon in the mountains, Giggles caught four different kinds of butterflies. I’ve lerned to identify the Clouded Sulphur, the White Admiral, the Cabbage White, and a couple of others.
Giggles is not content, however, catching just butterflies. Almost anything that moves is subject to catching, examination, and retention (until Mommy convinces her that the creature would really like to go free). So far this past summer, the following creatures have briefly taken up residence in an empty pickle jar or cookie jar:
- a large frog
- a Forest Tent caterpillar that turned into a brown moth
- a praying mantis (Discovery: of the 2000 or so varieties of praying mantises, only four are native to North America.)
- several Monarch butterflies
- a fuzzy green caterpillar that is currently in chrysalis form, found on a rhubarb leaf
- a Twelve-Spotted Skimmer dragonfly
Now, if she would only get over her aversion to spiders…
Summer retrospective - #1: animals, backyard naturalists (2007-09-17)
(Originally posted on 17 September 2007.)
Giggles loves animals. Stuffed animals, plastic animals, pictures of animals, and even real animals. So when we arrived back home from Alberta at the end of July, it was lovely to see our wonderful backyard garden had started to attract more and more animals, expecially birds. The sunflowers, that were about 1.5 metres (5’) tall when I left in mid-July, had blossomed upwards and reached over 2.5 metres (8’)! The potted hibiscus were flowering, the fuchsia was in full bloom, the dogwood had spread upwards, the morning glory were covering the trellis, the anise hyssop and dill and other herbs were gorgeously profuse. And the tomatoes and cucumbers were starting to produce in abundance.
At the bird feeder we regularly see chickadees, house sparrows, and gold finches. A few weeks ago Giggles saw a hummingbird at the fuchsia; since then we’ve all seen it (or them) at the fuchsia, the morning glory, and a hummingbird feeder that Laoye hung up. This past weekend Giggles and I spotted a bluejay. She and Laolao spotted a cowbird on the neighbour’s roof. And of course, there are the ubiquitous crows. (They tend to visit the garbage cans more than the bird feeder!) Although the red-winged blackbirds don’t visit the bird feeder, we see and hear them down by the pond.
We hope to keep the birds coming to the feeder all fall and winter. It’s out at the edge of our deck and we have a good view of it from our dining room table where we take all our meals. With her sharp eyes, Giggles can easily identify the birds from the table, but my fuzzy vision means I can only tell that they’re birds! But now I’ve put a pair of binoculars close by so I can see them in detail and help to identify birds we’re not yet familiar with. Giggles isn’t satisfied knowing that they’re birds; she wants to know what kind of bird! So I’m learning more myself…
Giggles loves animals. Stuffed animals, plastic animals, pictures of animals, and even real animals. So when we arrived back home from Alberta at the end of July, it was lovely to see our wonderful backyard garden had started to attract more and more animals, expecially birds. The sunflowers, that were about 1.5 metres (5’) tall when I left in mid-July, had blossomed upwards and reached over 2.5 metres (8’)! The potted hibiscus were flowering, the fuchsia was in full bloom, the dogwood had spread upwards, the morning glory were covering the trellis, the anise hyssop and dill and other herbs were gorgeously profuse. And the tomatoes and cucumbers were starting to produce in abundance.
At the bird feeder we regularly see chickadees, house sparrows, and gold finches. A few weeks ago Giggles saw a hummingbird at the fuchsia; since then we’ve all seen it (or them) at the fuchsia, the morning glory, and a hummingbird feeder that Laoye hung up. This past weekend Giggles and I spotted a bluejay. She and Laolao spotted a cowbird on the neighbour’s roof. And of course, there are the ubiquitous crows. (They tend to visit the garbage cans more than the bird feeder!) Although the red-winged blackbirds don’t visit the bird feeder, we see and hear them down by the pond.
We hope to keep the birds coming to the feeder all fall and winter. It’s out at the edge of our deck and we have a good view of it from our dining room table where we take all our meals. With her sharp eyes, Giggles can easily identify the birds from the table, but my fuzzy vision means I can only tell that they’re birds! But now I’ve put a pair of binoculars close by so I can see them in detail and help to identify birds we’re not yet familiar with. Giggles isn’t satisfied knowing that they’re birds; she wants to know what kind of bird! So I’m learning more myself…
The homework dilemma (2007-09-10)
(Originally posted on 10 September 2007.)
I recently read a post on another blog about a book called Guerilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School, and I immediately ordered it at the library. I picked it up last Saturday and read the first section that night, which discusses what’s wrong with the education system. I’m eager to get to the following sections, which deal with what we as parents can do to help our kids learn despite the school system, and how to engage their interests.
This is something that has niggled at my mind for the past year and more. Giggles started off Grade 1 last year happy and eager to learn, and she loved her teacher. By the end of the year, while she still loved her teacher, she was no longer eager and complained virtually every morning bout having to go to school. Homework was a battleground virtually all year. The focus was on learning to read, and while she IS capable and bright, she has struggled with learning to read (and with basic math skills – she’s good in some areas of math, but lousy in others). A year later, she still struggles, though she's made TONS of progress with reading, owing in large part to plenty of persistence by Mama’s to get her to just plain practice reading, and lots of incentives and prizes for every little step.
On the other hand, she got good marks in science, social studies, health/phys ed, and art – reflections of her interest in the world, in learning things, and creative personality. I don’t want these areas of interest (and the concomitant good marks) to end up being dragged down by struggles in the “core” areas of reading and math, which may happen down the road if nothing changes.
So my concern is that I see a child who LOVES to learn and to discover things., but who is not being served to the best of her possibilities by the education system, through no fault of its (or her) own. The system has rules and structures and requirements, and just doesn’t have the flexibility to be able to take her interests and use them as a springboard to learning. And it uses certain methods of learning that may work just fine for some kids, but don’t seem to work well for Giggles. The exercise books and worksheets that come home don't seem to have that much effect – she ends up being able to complete the exercises fairly well, but not much of it seems to “stick.” It hasn’t translated into MEANING or significance. She NEEDS to learn this stuff in a meaningful context. And she has tons of interests, which could – if give half a chance – provide a great context for learning everything she needs to learn. But the school doesn’t do that. It can’t.
Since I’m single-parenting, I can’t home school (well, I know some single parents who manage to do it, but it doesn’t work with my job situation!). I want to find a way to engage her interests in a way that supports her LEARNING as opposed to meeting the school requirements. Last year my focus was on activities that tended to mirror the school methods, and they weren’t all that helpful either. So I want to try a new tack. Since I’ll be off work most of the school year (once Poppet comes home), I hope I’ll have more chance to do so.
My own school experience was generally positive – I was a very good student and nobody (except perhaps myself) ever put pressure on me to perform– but on the other hand, I often found school insufficiently challenging. I was one of those who managed to get very good marks without necessarily needing to put out a lot of effort. (Thankfully, I don’t think that had a major effect on my work ethic!) But I often dreamed of being in a situation where I would be able to do more interesting work.
Giggles may not be academically inclined, the way I was, but she still has immense aptitude for learning and discovery. I want to feed that appetite in whatever way I can.
I recently read a post on another blog about a book called Guerilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School, and I immediately ordered it at the library. I picked it up last Saturday and read the first section that night, which discusses what’s wrong with the education system. I’m eager to get to the following sections, which deal with what we as parents can do to help our kids learn despite the school system, and how to engage their interests.
This is something that has niggled at my mind for the past year and more. Giggles started off Grade 1 last year happy and eager to learn, and she loved her teacher. By the end of the year, while she still loved her teacher, she was no longer eager and complained virtually every morning bout having to go to school. Homework was a battleground virtually all year. The focus was on learning to read, and while she IS capable and bright, she has struggled with learning to read (and with basic math skills – she’s good in some areas of math, but lousy in others). A year later, she still struggles, though she's made TONS of progress with reading, owing in large part to plenty of persistence by Mama’s to get her to just plain practice reading, and lots of incentives and prizes for every little step.
On the other hand, she got good marks in science, social studies, health/phys ed, and art – reflections of her interest in the world, in learning things, and creative personality. I don’t want these areas of interest (and the concomitant good marks) to end up being dragged down by struggles in the “core” areas of reading and math, which may happen down the road if nothing changes.
So my concern is that I see a child who LOVES to learn and to discover things., but who is not being served to the best of her possibilities by the education system, through no fault of its (or her) own. The system has rules and structures and requirements, and just doesn’t have the flexibility to be able to take her interests and use them as a springboard to learning. And it uses certain methods of learning that may work just fine for some kids, but don’t seem to work well for Giggles. The exercise books and worksheets that come home don't seem to have that much effect – she ends up being able to complete the exercises fairly well, but not much of it seems to “stick.” It hasn’t translated into MEANING or significance. She NEEDS to learn this stuff in a meaningful context. And she has tons of interests, which could – if give half a chance – provide a great context for learning everything she needs to learn. But the school doesn’t do that. It can’t.
Since I’m single-parenting, I can’t home school (well, I know some single parents who manage to do it, but it doesn’t work with my job situation!). I want to find a way to engage her interests in a way that supports her LEARNING as opposed to meeting the school requirements. Last year my focus was on activities that tended to mirror the school methods, and they weren’t all that helpful either. So I want to try a new tack. Since I’ll be off work most of the school year (once Poppet comes home), I hope I’ll have more chance to do so.
My own school experience was generally positive – I was a very good student and nobody (except perhaps myself) ever put pressure on me to perform– but on the other hand, I often found school insufficiently challenging. I was one of those who managed to get very good marks without necessarily needing to put out a lot of effort. (Thankfully, I don’t think that had a major effect on my work ethic!) But I often dreamed of being in a situation where I would be able to do more interesting work.
Giggles may not be academically inclined, the way I was, but she still has immense aptitude for learning and discovery. I want to feed that appetite in whatever way I can.
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