Teaching Tips

Orton-Gillingham Reading Lesson & Free Printable Planner

June 23, 2017 By Marianne 3 Comments

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Of all reading programs, Orton-Gillingham has the most research to support its effectiveness with dyslexic learners. Over the course of our 20-year journey teaching kids with dyslexia to read, learning about and teaching with the Orton-Gillingham method has made the biggest impact on our kids reading.

Click here to learn more about the philosophy behind the Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach to teaching reading.

Several years ago I became a certified OG dyslexia tutor to increase my confidence while homeschooling my own kids with dyslexia. I learned a lot during my training, but one of the things that I came away with was a better way to organize my reading lessons. This post will share how the OG approach recommends structuring lessons. At the end of the post, you can download a free OG reading lesson planner complete with instructions for how to use it.

Organizing an Orton-Gillingham Reading Lesson

The order of your lessons should be the same each session. A lesson plan should typically include the following five parts:

Part 1: Review

Review is critical to the success of any OG reading program. Kids with dyslexia need a LOT of review, therefore building a routine of review into every lesson is critical for making progress. Each of the drills and the review will take only a few minutes. We make review time fun by trying to go as quickly as possible with lots of smiles and laughter.

During review time, the student will practice the following:

Sight words. Review sight words until they can be read without prompting – a minimum of five times (over the course of 5 lessons). I even keep reviewing sight words until my kids can read them in their daily reading (the readers that come with our OG reading curriculum) with confidence.

Read this amazingly effective method for teaching sight words to kids with dyslexia.

Phonemic awareness. Many kids with dyslexia lack the foundational skill of phonemic awareness; being able to hear, identify and manipulate the individual sounds in words. Separating the spoken word “cat” into three distinct phonemes, /k/, /a/, and /t/, requires phonemic awareness.

Read this for ideas and resources for teaching phonemic awareness.

Visual drills. Use flash cards with graphemes (letters and groups of letters) and have your child say the phonemes (sounds made by graphemes). So for example, a flashcard has the grapheme ‘ee’ and your child says the long sound of ‘e’.

The purpose of the Visual Drill is to build automaticity (rapid naming) for matching graphemes to their phonemes. This is a very important skill for a student to be able to learn how to read (decode) words efficiently and effectively. Your child needs to be able to rapidly recall the phonemes for the graphemes in a word to be able to read (decode) the word fluently (with automaticity).

Use graphemes your child knows but needs to build fluency with and any new graphemes being taught. Put them in random order in your deck and review daily.

Auditory drills. Speak the individual phonemes (sounds) your child needs to practice. Your child repeats the sound and then writes the corresponding grapheme (letter or letters) on paper, a salt tray or on a dry erase board.

The purpose of the Auditory Drill is to build automaticity (rapid naming) for matching phonemes (sounds made by graphemes) to their graphemes (letters or groups of letters). This is a very important skill for a student to be able to learn how to spell words efficiently and effectively. The student needs to be able to rapidly recall the graphemes for the phonemes in a word to be able to spell (encode) the word fluently.

Blending drill. The purpose of the Blending Drill is to put into practice the skills they have gained from the visual drill. In the visual and auditory drills, your child worked on one grapheme to one phoneme or one phoneme to one grapheme. In the Blending Drill, they will work with two or more graphemes that they blend together into a word or syllable. The primary purpose of this drill is to learn how to blend phonemes together, not just to read a word.

We use the green word cards from All About Reading for our blending drills. We also love the Let’s Read series from Educators Publishing Service for daily blending drills. Have your kids read one 2-page spread three times in a row to build fluency.

Watch this short video clip of my 6-year old practicing reading fluency with Let’s Read.

Concept review. Review the main concept or concepts from the previous lesson. Use materials provided with your OG-based program such as letter tiles, flashcards and fluency sheets or games for this review. Use your Lesson Planner Sheet after each reading lesson to make notes of what concepts will need review in the next lesson. It is not uncommon for us to review new concepts for 3-4 lessons, especially in the younger years.

Part 2: Introduction of New Material

In this section, the student will be learning the next new concepts in their OG-based reading program. This may include new grapheme-phoneme correspondences, syllable types, syllabication rules, spelling rules, word patterns or other items. Follow your OG-based curriculum sequence for which material to introduce next.

This should include as much multi-sensory instruction as possible including guided instruction using letter tiles. Make notes on your lesson planner of what parts of the lesson you were able to cover, what you’ll do for the next lesson, and areas covered that need more review.

Part 3: Reading

In this section, the student should be practicing at the individual word level and with stories, or connected text. Controlled text, reading materials that only include words using the rules your child has already learned, should be used as much as possible. This will give him or her the opportunity to apply the decoding skills on words, sentences and running text that they have been learning.

Before reading running text (sentences and paragraphs) you should have your child practice any words that contain concepts or rules that the student is learning, but may be challenging for the student. This list should be created before the lesson.

The All About Reading program has warm up pages for each short story the child will read during his or her lesson. These prep sheets help struggling readers to feel a sense of confidence in their reading that is extremely motivating.

The reading material should provide a little challenge for the student, but not cause frustration. The student should be able to independently decode at least 95% of the material or they will struggle too much to be able to develop fluency.

For ideas on how to improve reading fluency, read this post.

Part 4: Spelling and Writing Dictation

In this section, your child will be learning and reviewing or practicing phoneme (sound) to grapheme (letter(s) conversion, syllables and syllabication, and spelling rules. They will practice words, phrases, and sentences. Follow your OG-based reading and spelling program for what and how to teach.

Part 5: Other Material

This section can include anything that the student is ready to learn that is not covered in the areas above. What is covered in this section will be dependent on the age and level of the student.

Some examples:

Reading out loud. Read out loud material that is too difficult for them to read independently, but is at their intellectual level. This offers the opportunity to help the student to continue to develop their higher order thinking skills with written material, practice visualizing and verbalizing, identifying new vocabulary, etc.

Learn new vocabulary words.

Learn grammar. Practice punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, paragraph skills, expository writing, etc.

Learn cursive (if appropriate for the student) See this post for how and why we teach cursive to our kids with dyslexia.

Take Notes!

Always take notes during and after the lesson to track where your child is showing increased skills and where they are having challenges. This is very important for preparing the next lesson. For reading lessons to be successful, they need to reinforce material previously taught, be sequential and incremental.

To learn more about the elements and ideals of the Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching reading, read this.

Also, always get feedback from your child during and at the end of the lesson. They will give you insight into what they are learning and it helps them to become more aware of what they are learning.

MY FAVORITE ORTON-GILLINGHAM RESOURCES

Programs with phonemic awareness exercises:

All About Reading Pre Level 1

Logic of English Foundations A, B, C and D

Barton Reading and Spelling Level 1

Blending Drill Work

Let’s Read by EPS

Orton-Gillingham Reading Programs to use at Home:

All About Reading and Spelling

Logic of English

Reading Horizons at Home

Barton Reading and Spelling

Cursive Writing Curriculum

Logic of English

Organize Your OG Reading Lessons With a FREE Printable Lesson Planner

It is my goal to equip you to better teach your kids with dyslexia. You should have some kind of reading lesson planner to keep track of what you have covered and what your child still needs to work on. Download the planner I use (below) or create your own planner to organize what you are teaching.

FREE OG Reading Lesson Planner

Download and print to use at home!

How to Avoid the Summer Slide in Reading

May 15, 2017 By Marianne Leave a Comment

I’m writing this post on the airplane as I return from a whirlwind weekend of speaking at the Teach Them Diligently conference in Atlanta. Encouraging families on their homeschool journies is something that gives me great joy. Interestingly, these weekends away, teaching and encouraging others, is a HUGE encouragement to me! I can hardly believe it sometimes when people come to me with tears of happiness and stories of success and overcoming fears and budding confidence because of this website!

One thing I learned this weekend is that as summer approaches, we are weary. We’re all looking forward to some long, hot days at the beach or pool, hanging out with friends and family and taking a break from the normal school routine. We need a change of scenery and some time to rest.

So how do we reconcile this with the knowledge that if we do stop teaching our kids with dyslexia, they’re going to forget as much as 30% of what they’ve learned this year? Here are some options for you.

Avoiding the Summer Slide in Reading

We have changed how we handle the summer break over the years depending on our level of progress, our level of burnout, and our family dynamic. Here are a few ideas for how to keep the learning going this summer:

Hire a tutor.

I wrote recently of how our 9 1/2-year-old isn’t making the kinds of progress we would like. He is likely on the profound side of dyslexia and so we committed to hiring an NILD educational therapist to work with him. Read more about our decision to hire a tutor for our profoundly dyslexic son here.

Continue with your usual program.

If hiring a tutor is not an option for you this summer, you can continue with your current research-based reading curriculum but cut back on how often you teach – say only 2-3 times per week. This is enough practice to keep your child from forgetting while easing up on the schedule enough to get 4 or 5 days of rest each week.

Add in some games and apps.

Check out the extensive list of apps available for supplementing your reading instruction in this post – 100 Resources for Teaching Kids With Dyslexia. Our boys (ages 6 & 9) are both loving the Nessy Reading and Spelling online reading program. Read my review of Nessy and a special discount for Homeschooling With Dyslexia readers here.

Use a new program for the summer.

One way to sidestep burnout is to switch programs for the summer. Sometimes this small change can give our kids that boost in motivation they need as they try something new. My recommendation for an excellent, online, complete, Orton-Gillingham-based program is Reading Horizons. You can read my complete review of Reading Horizons Elevate here.

Whatever you choose, we’re in this together!

How about you? What are your plans for summer reading?

10 Ways to Help Kids Overcome Math Anxiety

May 5, 2017 By Marianne 4 Comments

For kids who struggle with math – the ones who have trouble with math no matter what they try – it is not uncommon to feel anxiety when even simply thinking about math. As the mom of a handful of kids who struggle with math, sometimes called dyscalculia, I have had a ton of practice helping them not only to figure out how to solve math problems but to overcome their unnecessary worrying about math. Whether your child is six or 16, these 10 tips will help them to build their confidence and ability in math class.

10 Ways to Help Kids With Math Anxiety

Normalize their challenges. I often laughingly refer to myself as my kids’ life coach. How encouraging is it to a struggling learner to hear that many students have a hard time with math. Research shows that up to 50% of students nationwide are experiencing some degree of math difficulty. Remind kids that “All kids can learn math, we just need to figure out how you learn best.”

Read this post on learning styles for more information on the different ways kids learn.

Play math games. Playing games calms kids who are naturally math anxious and allow them to practice skills in a non-threatening environment. Games also tend to be more engaging than your typical math curriculum and engage multiple senses which speeds learning.

Encourage questions. When your child comes to you exasperated with a math problem or assignment, resist the temptation to tell them what to do, rather ask a question. What do you think you should do? Why? Is there another way to solve this problem? What is the problem asking? Don’t be too quick to help them out. Once they realize that they can figure out how to solve math problems by thinking them through, their confidence will grow.

Remember the concept of a growth mindset. Research has shown that when parents or teachers praise a child’s level of effort rather than their level of success or correctness kids respond by developing a growth mindset – or the belief that they can learn and that they are not limited by a set amount of intelligence.

Slow down. Research has shown that timed tests in the early years were a major turning point for many students who needed more time or needed to understand what they were learning as opposed to simple rote learning. Stanford professor, Dr. Jo Baker, talks about the importance of teaching math strategies over math speeds.

Remediate but allow accommodations. While our kids are school aged, particularly in the elementary years, it is wise to continue to remediate areas of weakness that we observe in our kids. We practice math facts just as we may have our kids with dyslexia practice reading fluency or learning sight words for reading. As time goes on, when appropriate, we introduce assistive technology and other accommodations that help our kids to compensate for their areas of weakness.

Educate yourself so you can educate your child!

Take a class. Teaching Math to Kids With Dyscalculia is a one-hour, online, parent class full of the latest research and tons of effective teaching tips for kids who struggle with math.

How to Successfully Deschool Your Child With Dyslexia

April 14, 2017 By Marianne Leave a Comment

If you are just beginning to homeschool a dyslexic child who has been in a public or private school for some time, you may be interested in knowing how to successfully deschool your child.

What do I mean by ‘deschool’?

Deschooling is stepping away from academics for a period of time in order to decompress from the pressure and stress of your child’s school experience. This time is used to restore an interest in learning and create new habits of how to learn.

Taking a break from formal academics, even for a short time, can fly in the face of reason since many parents pull their kids from traditional school settings because their kids are ‘behind’ academically.

Why Deschooling Helps

The pressure on kids with learning struggles to keep up with their peers can take a significant toll on a child’s confidence and desire to learn.

Here’s why I recommend taking a period of time to deschool your dyslexic child:

Calms anxiety: Kids with dyslexia and other learning differences often battle anxiety whether they’re homeschooled or in a public or private school. Anxiety can significantly impact a child’s ability to learn. Taking the pressure off for a time can help kids feel less anxious and more in control of the direction their education is headed.

Boosts confidence: Being measured against peers that don’t have learning differences day after day can cause kids with dyslexia to lose confidence. Believing that you aren’t intelligence is one of the most devastating myths about dyslexia that are hurting our kids today. Taking a break from formal academics to spend time on interests and relationships takes the focus off of your child’s areas of weakness and onto areas of strength.

Increases interest in learning: Most kids with unremediated learning differences in the public or private school have developed a closed mindset with regards to their ability to learn. Continual failure to meet teachers’ expectations leaves many kids believing that, not only are they not smart, but that they cannot learn. When kids take time away from formal academics to focus on their interests for a time, they experience real life learning and interest increases.

Allows time to focus on the parent-child relationship: Studies of successful dyslexics revealed that the one thing that had the biggest impact on their success was the presence of one caring adult. Taking time to show your child that you are on their side and that you want what is best for them will help them to relax and trust you on your new homeschooling journey!

How to Deschool Your Child With Dyslexia

Talk to your child. Let your child know that you are taking some time away from formal studies to heal and enjoy life together. Encourage them to discuss things that they liked and disliked about school.

Take a break from formal academics. While this may seem counterintuitive for a child who was ‘behind’ in school, trust the process. Taking a break to restore a child’s interest in learning will help them to learn more effectively once you get back to the books.

Go exploring. Begin to nurture your child’s interests by getting out of the house and taking trips to places of interest such as zoos, museums, national parks – anywhere that is of interest. Allow your child to choose where to go. There is a lot of freedom in homeschooling. Take some time to enjoy your freedom to create your own schedule! Notice how much learning actually takes place on outings like these.

Get connected. Find a local homeschool group and more importantly, find a dyslexia support group where you can ask questions and get encouragement when needed.

Read out loud. The benefits to reading out loud to kids are many, but for the dyslexic child, it is even more powerful. Without the pressure to do the reading themselves, their enjoyment of reading and of a good story are increased – not to mention the increase in vocabulary and understanding of more complex grammatical structures.

Do life together. Cook, garden, clean out their rooms, visit family and friends. Kids who are used to being around other people all day can feel lonely or isolated when first leaving school. Spending time with friends and family can help with this. Filling our kids’ days with meaningful interactions can help them feel productive and begin to tap into a new rhythm of life.

Deschooling for Parents

As important as it is for kids to have some time to deschool, parents benefit from some time to deschool as well. Most parents only know school in the traditional setting. Creating a ‘school-at-home’ is a common choice among new homeschoolers. I strongly encourage you to take some time to learn about different homeschool methods, learning styles and curriculum choices before getting started.

Get my Free Ebook

I created a free 50-page ebook, Homeschooling With Dyslexia 101: What You Need to Know About Homeschooling Your Kids With Dyslexia that walks parents through these topics and much more. Download it for free below:

Grading Rubrics for Homeschoolers + Free Rubric Template Download

March 7, 2017 By Marianne 1 Comment

I received an email recently from a reader asking for tips on how to assign a grade to her dyslexic high school student who was not working up to ‘grade level’. He was working hard, but the end product was far from that of a traditional 16-year old. This is a common dilemma for homeschoolers. What this homeschooling mom needed was a grading tool that could be individualized for her unique student.

Creating your own unique grading rubric is a great solution to the ‘how to assign a grade’ dilemma.

If you would prefer to listen to this post, click on the player below.

What are Grading Rubrics?

Rubrics are not only a systematic way to establish grades for your homeschool student, they also are a great way to let students know exactly what is expected of them. They are a powerful tool for creating customized learning goals for students, especially those who are not up to grade level due to dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, or other learning difficulties. Take a look at the Writing Rubric below for an example of how a rubric works.

Writing Rubric Example

Example rubric from www.alamoinstructure.com

How Grading Rubrics Work

A rubric is a scoring tool that lists the grading criteria for an assignment. These criteria are broken down into specific categories relevant to the assignment.

In the writing rubric example above, along the left-hand column, the assignment criteria are:

Thesis
Organization
Supporting evidence
Mechanics
Content

Along the top of the rubric, there are also ratings, including points earned, for several levels of competency for each of the criteria:

Excellent
Adequate
Needs improvement
Developing
No mark – criterion not attempted or completed

In the rubric example above, these ratings include a point score for each level which I really like. Points can be tallied and a grade given based on whatever scale you choose for your homeschool. For example: 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, etc. Assigning a point value to each rating helps a student and parent to know exactly how to grade each aspect of the assignment.

How to Make Your Own Grading Rubric

Make a list of what you want the students to accomplish through the assignment (criteria).
Organize your list from most important to least important.
Decide on an overall point value for the assignment.
Assign each item on your ranked list a point value.
Multiply your total point value from step 3 by each item’s assigned percentage to arrive at the point value for that item.
On a fresh sheet of paper, write each criterion on your list in order from most to least important. Make sure to leave room in between each category.
Assign specific grading criteria (i.e. what you expect them to do) for each main criteria from step six.

You can simply write your grading rubric on paper or type it if you’re proficient with a spreadsheet program. If you’re like me and spreadsheet programs make you break out in a cold sweat, you’re in luck. There are a variety of rubric makers that are available online.

RubiStar

Teachnology

iRubric

There are also some sites with free downloadable rubrics. These can also be used for ideas on how to create your own customized rubric.

Teacher Planet

Universtiy of Wisconsin

More Rubrics from Teacher Planet

Customizing Rubrics for Kids With Dyslexia

Back to the question from my reader with the high school-aged son who was ‘behind’ in his writing skills.

Note: I’m not a fan of the term behind. All of our kids are on a journey of learning and as long as they are making progress, I’m happy.

So if your child needs to make progress with writing a thesis statement, you can weight this criterion more heavily with your rubric. If your child still struggles with grammar, give that less of a percentage of the total grade. Or be super specific and focus on just one area of grammar such as capitalization and end marks or any other relevant goal that you may have.

A Note About Accommodations

The use of accommodations should not affect a student’s grade. Go ahead and allow any and all accommodations for your child. Accommodations for writing are things like using speech to text, not counting off for spelling, or having someone scribe for him. For more information on the best accommodations for kids with dyslexia, click here. Remember accommodations are used to allow students with learning difficulties to express themselves at their intellectual level. Students with dyslexia in public school are not marked off for the use of accommodations and neither should your homeschooled student.

Get Your Grading Rubric

Download our free customizable grading rubric here!

How about you? How have you assigned grades to your homeschooled students?

6 Productivity Hacks for Your Homeschool

March 4, 2017 By Marianne 2 Comments

It is not uncommon for homeschooling parents to get overwhelmed from time to time. I jokingly refer to February (and sometimes March as well) as National Homeschool Burnout Month. The reality is that there are days when it seems like everyone has a bad attitude, the laundry is piled to the ceiling and the toilet overflows because your toddler stuffed an entire roll of toilet paper in it while you were teaching your reluctant 3rd grader. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had one-of-those-days!

Getting It All Done in Your Homeschool

Having realistic expectations about homeschooling your kids is an important part of being able to press on through those difficult days.

I do have some homeschool productivity hacks from my nearly 20 years of homeschooling.

All of these tips are effective for teaching any type of learner but more so for homeschooling the dyslexic child. Kids with dyslexia often need more one-on-one time with mom (or dad) and become independent learners later than kids without dyslexia.

For tips on teaching kids with dyslexia to become independent learners, read this post.

6 Productivity Hacks for Your Homeschool

Start Earlier. By setting your alarm and getting out of bed a bit earlier, you can accomplish more. This is especially true if you are homeschooling more than one child. Teaching one child early in the morning can provide a quiet environment and add a few extra hours to your day. This may not be an option if you have infants or young children who aren’t sleeping through the night yet.

Combine Teaching. Although a typical course of study may suggest that 1st graders study American History, 4th graders study State History and your 6th grader study World History, this is not necessary in the homeschool – or recommended if you value your mental health! It is okay to teach all of your kids one subject each year in subjects like science, history, and the arts. Math and reading may require more of your time but by combining your other subjects you will save time and have a better chance of staying sane.

Delegate Inside the House. Children are amazingly capable people. Six-year-olds can keep an eye on the baby in her bouncy seat while the 10- year-old reads to the toddler. Older kids can prepare meals and help with the house keeping. There is no way that you can homeschool your kids, cook, clean, do laundry and drive everyone to practice and clubs. You can’t do it all! Delegate!

Delegate Outside the House. Sometimes you just need to get some professional help. Whether you hire a house cleaner once or twice a month or hire a certified dyslexia tutor to help with reading instruction, if you are struggling to achieve your priorities in your homeschool, consider delegating outside the home. A few years ago we hired a tutor to help one of our kids with Algebra. Oh my – total game changer!

For more information on hiring a dyslexia tutor, read this!

Online or Computerized Curricula. I’ve mentioned before how all of our kids switch to Teaching Textbooks as their main math curriculum in 3rd grade. It truly is like having the good math teacher every year! Another computer program that has been a huge help on busy days is Nessy Reading and Spelling. If I’m busy with the older kids or have some other interruption, my two emerging readers hop on Nessy for reading practice. They really do love it! I’m amazed at how motivating the games are and how hard they will try to read. One more program that we have used and loved is Reading Horizons Elevate. This is an online Orton-Gillingham reading curriculum that is fantastic! Read my full review of Reading Horizons here.

Take a Break to Build Productivity. It can be easy to get caught up in all of the details of assignments and commitments as a busy parent, whether you homeschool or not. If our family is struggling with poor attitudes, irritability and lack of enthusiasm, we will take a break for a day or two.

Sometimes we will head outside for the day. My favorite place to unwind and find peace is at the beach. Even if it is cooler outside, we still enjoy the wide open space, the lack of electronic stimulation and the fresh air. Other times we will go on a field trip to an event, museum or show. It is amazing how having a little fun together as a family can reset everyone’s clock and help us get back to work with the right attitudes.

How about you? What tips or tricks have helped make your homeschool more productive?

How I’m Teaching my Child With Dyslexia and Dysgraphia to Write

February 27, 2017 By Marianne 6 Comments

To listen to this post, click the player below.

There is an abundance of theories about how to teach writing. There is also a ton of research about effective methods of teaching writing. But somehow, when the rubber hits the road, teaching a child with dyslexia and dysgraphia to write can get a bit, pardon the pun, messy.

This is a sponsored conversation on behalf of WriteShop. All opinions are my own.

How dyslexia and dysgraphia affect writing ability

Kids with dyslexia often become fluent readers at a much older age than traditional learners. This can also have a profound effect on their ability to write. What do you do when you’re not sure how to spell a particular word? Choose a different word!

About 40% of kids with dyslexia will also have dysgraphia, which can cause difficulties with organization, planning, as well as the physical act of writing.

Remember though that dyslexia and dysgraphia are in no way related to intelligence. Quite the contrary. Most kids (and adults) with dyslexia and dysgraphia have average to above-average intelligence.

A perfect example of this is when I recently asked my 9-year old son with dyslexia and dysgraphia to tell me what he knew of world history. His narration was beautifully told with elaborate sentence structures and plenty of strong verbs and quality adjectives. Had he been required to write that narrative, the outcome would have been vastly different.

Elements of a research-based, effective writing program

Research on how to teach kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia to write says that the instruction should include the following elements.

Instruction should be:

explicit – explaining each concept clearly
systematic – following the same teaching procedure for each new concept taught
sequential – starts out simply and builds on concepts previously taught
multi-sensory – teaches using as many of the senses at once as possible
individualized – can be adapted to the specific needs of the student

This makes a lot of sense since these are the same methods of teaching that have been proven to work exceptionally well to teach reading to kids with dyslexia.

Our writing story

If you’ve been around this site for long, you know that our homeschooling family of dyslexics has been thriving in the Classical Conversations homeschool program for three years now. Our two daughters went through the upper elementary Essentials program with little struggle. This is a fairly rigorous writing and grammar program that has equipped them both very well for middle school writing.

Because of his profound dyslexia and dysgraphia, our 4th-grade son just isn’t ready for the challenge of Essentials yet. His limited reading, spelling, and consequently writing ability makes it a poor fit – at least for this year.

Enter WriteShop Junior Book D

I used WriteShop Junior with great success before our two daughters entered the Classical Conversations writing class. I remembered the fun, research-based instruction from when we used the program a few years ago, so we’re pulling it out again and so far, our little guy is loving it.

WriteShop Junior D

Teaching Writing With WriteShop Junior

I’ll post my full review of WriteShop Junior next month after my son has more time to use it. For now, here is how WriteShop Junior fits the needs of my son with dyslexia and dysgraphia:

WriteShop teaches explicitly. Each WriteShop Junior lesson begins with a ‘Model and Teach’ pre-activity. All new ideas and writing tools are introduced by the parent/teacher. Parents will write, modeling the correct way to write, while the student observes.

WriteShop teaches systematically. Each lesson is divided into 8 Activity Sets with several exercises. These activity sets are the same with every lesson and provide a comfortable and predictable routine for teaching for both teacher and student.

WriteShop teaches sequentially. Beginning with writing a simple invitation to friends, WriteShop Junior teaches new concepts and writing tools gradually, building on concepts previously learned.

WriteShop uses hands-on, or multi-sensory, teaching methods. All pre-writing activities are hands-on games that help kids explore new concepts such as voice, genre, and descriptive vocabulary without writing.

WriteShop can easily be individualized. The WriteShop Teacher’s Manual encourages parents to help their children learn to enjoy the writing process and to allow a child to dictate whatever he or she cannot write on their own. Each WriteShop lesson also includes suggestions for adapting the lessons for both a struggling writer and an advanced student.

WriteShop Junior Book D Grammar Fold and Go

The folks over at WriteShop didn’t create their program specifically for teaching writing to kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia. They did create it to be a fun, interactive program that builds a solid foundation in writing skills for all kids.

Visit the WriteShop website and follow them for teaching tricks and tips on:

With the right teaching methods and appropriate accommodations, kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia can not only enjoy the writing process but can also learn to excel in their own writing.

How to Make a Quick and Effective Mid-Year Homeschool Assessment

January 2, 2017 By Marianne Leave a Comment

I talk to a lot of homeschool moms. We come from all walks of life but we all have this one thing in common; we all feel like we’re not ‘doing enough’.

‘Doing enough’ is a vague mixture of ideals, comparing ourselves to the homeschool family next door and counting the unfinished lessons in our school books.

The break for the holidays is a perfect opportunity to take a fresh look at what is working and what isn’t in your homeschool. Here’s how I do a quick mid-year homeschool assessment:

Academic Assessment

Academic assessments are pretty straight-forward:

Compare lessons completed to lessons remaining school days: how closely on track are you?
Look at grades or mastery: are they ‘getting it’ or do they seem to be struggling?
How do the kids feel about how things are going: are they excited, content or dreading each subject?

In my earlier homeschool days I was pretty quick to throw out a curriculum that wasn’t working and try another one. I think that that is just part of normal for homeschooling in the early days. We need to get a feel for our kids’ learning styles (and our own as the teacher) and we need to get a feel for different curricula.

These days, after homeschooling for over 20 years, I am more prone to alter a curriculum. Too much writing? Do some work verbally. Too much reading? Read out loud a few times a week. Progress too slow? Back off on some subjects to make time to double up on others. Read this post for more creative ways to modify your homeschool curriculum.

While it is important to assess the academic progress of our homeschooled kids, we also need to give room for our own kids’ individual strengths and weaknesses.

Several years ago, I was teaching two 10th graders and one of them loved, loved, loved history and despised his health class. He just had a natural affinity for history while health and nutrition simply didn’t interest him. The other 10th grader loved, loved, loved studying about health and nutrition, but despised studying history. Same curriculum – two different kids. Did I change either of these curricula? No.

In the same vein, not all kids are A students across the board. Some will naturally be inclined towards language arts and others towards math and science. Give room for these differences. You as the parent know your kids best and with some careful observation should be able to tell if your kids are working to their potential.

Successful homeschoolers will learn to find a balance between teaching to their kids’ preferred learning style and knowing when to push kids to work out side of their comfort zone.

Home and Schedule Assessment

There is no separating the home from the school in homeschool planning. If the home isn’t running smoothly, the school won’t run smoothly and vise versa.

Some questions to ask:

How is the house running?
What areas of home life need help: Cleaning? Laundry? Cooking? Time Management?
How can these tasks be better delegated or managed?

At the beginning of every school year, I create a schedule for our homeschool. Once we are all on track, we tend to let go of the paper and work off of habit. Then come November, things tend to get off track and we go back to our paper schedule for a time.

If your home is out of order, take the time to list the things that are making you crazy and give yourself permission to take the time to get back in order. Think of life skills as a class and teach your kids to help!

Relationships Assessment

Homeschooling is far more than the pursuit of academic excellence. While homeschooling statistically lends itself to academic success, the character and relationships that are being formed and shaped every single day in our homeschools is right up there with academic skills – even more so in some ways. Consider the straight A-student with poor character compared to the C-student with a heart to serve and bless.

It is not uncommon for relationships to have peaks and valleys. As homeschool parents, it is our job to make sure that we are relating to all of our kids as best we can and to note when one kid or another is becoming distant from the family.

Things that have caused our relationships to suffer have been too much media (on all parts – parents and kids alike), being too busy, constant discipline issues that are unresolved and the tension caused by mom and dad not focusing on their relationship. Read more about how we limit screen time in our home.

Take a Day

Before you get back to school, take a day to ponder, make notes and talk to your kids and get a fresh assessment on your homeschool.

The One Thing You Need to Become the Best Homeschool Teacher

November 2, 2016 By Marianne 4 Comments

If you would prefer to listen to this post, click the play button below:

This post was inspired by an email I received recently. This concerned mama wanted my advice on how to be the best teacher she could for her son with dyslexia. She had done much to prepare herself for the task of home educating her son, yet she desired to do even more. The heart of this reader is one that I see in many of you and is why I love being in community with you all. I was a little bit surprised by my response to this dear reader, and I wanted to share these thoughts with you today.

Parents who want to teach their kids with dyslexia – or ADHD or ADD or dysgraphia or dyscalculia – sincerely desire to provide their kids with the best education and the best environment for living and learning that they can.

Preparing to Homeschool Kids With Dyslexia

Most of the parents I talk to have already read many of the books every parent of a dyslexic child should read. They have even taken my parent dyslexia classes which are a great way to get up to speed on what dyslexia is and how kids with dyslexia learn, as well as understanding how the many facets of dyslexia affect learning.

I’ve even spoken to parents who have gone through dyslexia tutoring training, whether it is with the Dyslexia Training Institute like I did in San Diego (their online program is awesome) or maybe they are a Barton tutor or they have gone through some other agency to become a certified dyslexia tutor.

Even after doing all of these things to prepare themselves to teach their kids with dyslexia, these parents will still email me and say to me, “You know, I have done all of these things. I pulled my kids out of school because they are being traumatized there. I have gotten certified, read all these books, taken your classes and so now, we are starting to teach, what do I do? What advice do you have for me?”

And this is the advice that I have for that parent who has done everything that they can to prepare themselves to teach their children that learned differently. They have educated themselves. They have researched curriculum using the guides on our site.

The One Thing

My advice for a parent who is in this situation is that the only thing this type of parent is lacking, and all of those things are excellent by the way, is experience.

What I mean by that is that you can study the research on dyslexia and you can understand how dyslexia affects your child, how it affects reading and spelling and handwriting and math and organization and motivation and all these things. You can know all that, but nothing is going to prepare you like experience is and the only way to get experience is to actually pull out the books, sit down at the table or the couch or the floor, the bed or wherever you are going to your school, and get started.

You are going to have good days where you see your children’s love of learning blooming. You are going to see those ‘aha’ moments where they are truely learning something hard. Because of your prepartation, you will see fewer meltdowns and tears, but then there are still going be days where you have been teaching them the same sight word for a month and they cannot remember it. Not even for a day.

I know that all of you know of what I speak, right? About this time you are thinking, what am I going to do? Or maybe your child has mastered learning all of their sounds, and yet when it comes to blending a three-letter word together, it’s just not happening.

This is what I am talking about with experience.

My first reaction to these sorts of situations was to panic. My first reaction was to be discouraged and to be frustrated and to not know what to do, but I am telling you, that if you have done all of this research and gone through all of this training and preparing yourself, you will find the answer for each unique problem that your child encounters.

I bring up these examples of the problems that you may face because they happen to be ones that I faced myself. Here I am, you know, I have created these courses, I have been homeschooling for 20 years, I am a certified dyslexia tutor, and yet my 5-year-old learned all of his sounds and could not blend a single word together no matter what I tried.

And so you know what I did? I went on Google and I looked and I looked and I looked.

Because of all of my training and education, I knew the things that were not going to help, right? I knew that filling out worksheets was not going to help. However, I knew that driving a Matchbox car over the letters might work. I knew that hopping on paper letters on the floor, saying each sound until hopping on the next one might help, because I know my kid, I know what kinds of things work with kids with dyslexia, and so sure enough, I was able to figure that out with him.

He needed that extra multi-sensory input and perhaps a little more time as he was little young for his age. Now that he is 6, he is much better able to blend words together and it is not an issue, but it was an issue that really threw me for a loop when I first encountered it.

So, if you are a parent who has done the training, who has read the books, taken the classes, purchased the right curriculum and you are wondering what else you can do, it is pretty simple; though not necessarily easy.

I will never say teaching kids with dyslexia is easy.

You simply need to get started. You need pull out the books, sit down at the table and start, and when you come to those bumps on the road, you know that you have the ability to figure it out.

No one knows your child like you do. No one cares for your chld like you do. You both may cry from time to time, but what does not kill you makes you stronger.

Getting Started Homeschooling With Dyslexia (free ebook)

My Parent Dyslexia Courses

Building Fluency With All About Reading Readers

October 17, 2016 By Marianne 3 Comments

If you’ve been around Homeschooling With Dyslexia for long, you know how much our family loves the All About Reading and All About Spelling curriculum.

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase a product or resource through my link, I receive a small percentage of that purchase. I never share any product that I have not used and loved. Affiliate income helps me cover the cost of running this site. Thank you for supporting Homeschooling With Dyslexia!

Click the link below to listen to this post:

The All About Reading readers are one of the many reasons that we love All About Reading. With their compelling storylines, intricate (and non-babyish) drawings, they captivate my kids’ attention just enough to get them to push through the real difficulty of reading.

If you’ve been teaching a dyslexic child to read, you know how important that is!

One of our biggest struggles in teaching reading is the development of reading fluency. Reading fluency is the skill of reading through a text accurately, quickly and with expression. Fluency is important because of its profound effect on comprehension.

Oftentimes, a reader who lacks fluency will lose track of the storyline while reading because of the immense amount of effort required to simply decode each word. Paired with working memory weaknesses that are often present with dyslexia and you have a recipe for disaster.

The good news is that fluency can (and should) be taught. Research has revealed a variety of effective means of teaching fluent reading to kids with dyslexia. Read more about teaching fluency in this post.

How I Teach Reading Fluency With All About Reading Readers

One problem we faced early on with All About Reading was that my dyslexic readers were unable to read an entire story in the AAR readers. Reading was still a lot of work and by about half way through each story, they would begin the slow and steady progression towards a melt down – which I try to avoid at all costs! I make it a goal to make teaching reading fun and so I searched around a bit for some answers.

Here’s what I found that really works:

Buddy Reading

This solution came straight from the Appendix in the AAR Teacher’s Manual. By the way, if you haven’t read through those, there is a treasure of valuable information tucked away in them.

Be your child’s reading buddy by reading one page of the story and having your child read the next page. On the following day, switch pages so that your child is reading the pages that you read the day before. On the third day, if needed, have the child read the entire story.

Paired reading meets a few different needs. One, they can get through the entire story so there is a feeling of success. Two, there is a break from the intensity of reading for a few minutes. And three, kids feel special when mom (or dad) read with them, which builds confidence.

Reading Old Readers

This idea came from the All About Spelling curriculum and has been a huge success with our struggling readers. All About Reading takes an innovative stance on the teaching of spelling by teaching it separately from reading. Since reading skills (decoding) develop so much faster than spelling skills (encoding), we don’t start teaching spelling until after finishing level 1 of All About Reading. This has worked well for my kids because, again, it builds confidence and is an excellent review of what was learned previously in their reading lessons in All About Reading.

All About Spelling encourages kids to re-read the Level 1 readers from All About Reading for practice with the spelling concepts they are encountering. I love this because my kids can pretty easily read these old readers and it is another awesome confidence and fluency builder.

Remember that fluency is the last skill to develop and that it is developed primarily through practice. Buddy reading and reading books at or below their fluency level will provide practice in a fun and engaging way.

There are many ways to develop fluency. This post covers two simple and easy to implement ways to teach and enhance fluency using the All About Reading readers. For more information on the All About Reading and Spelling curriculum, click the image below.

More of my posts about All About Reading and Spelling:

Is All About Reading a Complete Orton-Gillingham Program?

All About Reading Review

You Can Teach Your Child With Dyslexia to Read With All About Reading

Why Not All Reading Curricula Are Created Equally

For more information on teaching fluency, consider taking my Teaching Fluency & Comprehension parent course.

In this class you will learn:

what reading fluency is and how it develops
how fluency affects comprehension
nine of the most effective, research-based methods for increasing reading fluency
easy-to-implement methods to enhance your child’s reading comprehension at home

To learn more about our Parent Courses, visit our Parent Dyslexia Courses page.