Update on Joseph's reading

First, let me say I hoped to blog a lot more than I have this Christmas season. The last few months have been busy and while I've posted occasional blogs, I've not talked about HOMESCHOOLING much, and this is a homeschooling blog!  But this holiday has flown by and we've been busy.

So, Joseph.  He is 7 and a few months.  He is not a fluent reader yet. That is no real problem, but he is behind where his older siblings were at this age.

When I got pregnant with Baby, I knew that I'd have to slow down.  During Sarah's pregnancy, I was so ill that I stopped formal school for 6 weeks or so during the first trimester.  I did better this time, probably because the older 3 are able to work more independently now.  But I didn't have the energy to work through all the phonics materials I wanted to with Joseph.

An older mom of 9 suggested to me that I focus on doing a little reading work with Joseph every day.  I thought that was a good idea, and turned to a series of short phonics books by Nora Gaydos.  The first 30 books or so only use short vowel sounds; the later ones in the group include "th" and "sh" and "ch" plus a few sight words.

I have introduced long vowel sounds to Joseph as well as "ing" and "ee" words, but these Gaydos books didn't have those so those phonics rules fell by the wayside.

However...Joseph really improved his basic reading in the last few months using these books!  2 months ago, he struggled through almost every word.  He also was mixing "b" and "d" a lot, and often mixed "m" and "n" as well.

A few weeks ago, he seemed to turn a corner.  Now, I am confident he has not memorized the books.  There are a lot of them and he's only read them 3 times at the most.  And his reading is MUCH more fluid.  It is really encouraging!

So I'm delighted and grateful to God.  I was stressed, once again, about falling behind with schoolwork during my pregnancy.  Once again, the Lord showed me that doing something different for a season can work just fine.

I am feeling much more energetic, and will soon go back to Alpha Phonics and Explode the Code so we can make some progress on other phonics rules.  Joseph is a long long way from being a fluent reader, but I believe we are making steady progress.

One very encouraging thing is that I don't think he is dyslexic.  We have a relative who is severely dyslexic and while he is doing well, I know it has been a struggle.  If one of our children has dyslexia, we will find a way to teach that child with God's help. But I believe that Joseph is not ... in spite of the mixing of "b" and "d" and "m" and "n".  Actually, all my kids have mixed up "b" and "d".

So, whew, I think we're well on our way to fluency for Joseph.