Heart of Wisdom Academy

*Nicki Truesdell*

Today, I reminded Peyton not to compare. When we compare ourselves against others we either feel proud or inferior; better or worse. Someone recently asked her what math she is in. She said she was embarrassed to say Pre-Algebra. The person that asked her was 3 years younger and doing Calculus. 
I know at this age it seems like such a big deal. I keep impressing on them that when they're adults no one cares. Genesis feels insecure about her reading. She doesn't know that when she goes for a job interview literally no one cares if she learned to read at 5 or 15.

Learning differences and learning difficulties are hard. As a mom, I know how much harder it would be if they were in public/private school. I know the bullying kids face when they learn differently or they're "slow". I know how agonizing it would be to have lessons move at such a fast pace. I know how lost they'd be when the teacher has to move on to the next concept when they never mastered the last one. I know how distracted they'd be by friends, enemies, frienemies cliques, boys, fashion, gossip, drama, etc. etc. etc. It would be harder. But they don't know that. This is their hard. I meet them where they are. 

For the record, I couldn't do this math problem at her age. I couldn't do this math problem 2 years ago. I constantly share the million reads why none of this matters.

 

Weeks 9 and 10 

This post is a compilation of two weeks. Filming takes a lot of time :-) This is a fair representation of our daily homeschool, although I couldn't capture everything. When I began homeschooling I so desperately wanted to see a real life homeschool to know how it works and what it looks like. So... I do at least one of these kinds of posts every year. It is so much fun for all of us to go back and look through. I pray that it might be instructive to another homeschool mom too. I would be lost if it were not for homeschool moms taking the time to post their how-to's on their blog.

• The day begins with everyone having personal quiet times.

• I teach reading, writing, and spelling to all the younger children together. Twins use the Wilson System for Reading (program for reading disabled children) and Kason and Kendal use 100 EZ lessons. They all work on abcmouse.com and starfall daily. The twins attend therapy twice weekly for language and reading disorders.
• Each of the younger children have a one-on-one reading session with me also. Peyton and Kason are working through Bob Books. Kaden finished Bob books and is working through all the Margaret Hilert books. (I'll post videos of those)
• We have group read alouds. I currently read 10-15 books a week to this group.

                                                                      Drilling Digraphs
                                                                             Spelling

• While this lesson is going on, Kyle does independent work which can be Spanish, typing, guitar practice, reading, math games, or writing stories.
• Now that the younger group is done, they do their independent work which is abcmouse.com, starfall, or typing
• While the younger group is working independently, I work one-on-one with Kyle. (That will be Part II) 

Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart! There are a lot of different challenges. If my kids were "in school" life wouldn't "interrupt" our school day: sick days, doctor appointments, dentist appointments, laundry, cooking, cleaning, organizing, car maintenance, house maintenance, new babies, fatigue etc. etc. etc. None of those things would effect my children's school day or my teaching if they were gone all day. But, by God's blessed grace we are all home together learning and being flexible and working through the challenges together as we grow in patience, humility, and flexibility, faith, and wisdom. Do you know how much God has taught me by having the children underfoot during all these times? Can you imagine how much God has taught them?

The most recent challenge we're working through is learning disabilities. I recently confessed to my sister, that I always thought that learning disabilities weren't real. I thought that the kids just watched to much TV/Video Games and didn't have good academic support at home. So I was just caught off guard with the twins learning challenges. I thought, "But they come from a good home, with little TV and lots of books, this doesn't happen to kids like that". At times, I have gone through and still go through intense feelings of guilt, helplessness, and faithlessness. But God is using the the twins learning differences to grow my faith and trust in him. Someone recently told me that God made my children, each one individually. HE made their brains, and he didn't make a mistake! But that's how I've been feeling, I've been feeling like...but this is a mistake...something is wrong with them....But I was wrong, these children are fearfully and wonderfully made. The Lord is leading me with gentle cords of compassion to live out all of those "one another scriptures" with all of my children...The tide is turning is my home and in my heart as I live out these scriptures most especially with my "special children". Live out these scriptures with your children....

The twins have had more than a difficult time learning. I started looking for answers at the beginning of the school year. I wanted to know... are they just slow and need more time to mature, or do they truly have a learning disability which requires treatment? That is what I've been praying about and trying to uncover all year.

As yet another year slips by and they still can't identify the entire alphabet (let alone read), can't write their ABC's or numbers to 10 independently and they are nearly 7!!...I'm ready for answers. This may not be a big deal to some people and perhaps if these children had never been taught it wouldn't be as alarming, but they have done the equivalent of "Kindergarten" TWICE already!!!! And academically they are still between pre-school and mid-Kindergarten level. Call me crazy, but I do NOT want to teach Kindergarten for a third year to the same students!!! Which is pretty much the boat I'm in. By the end of the assessment the therapist understood my pain , frustration,heart-ache,dilemma. Finally I've started shifting my focus from my teaching and teaching methods to their learning abilities/disabilities/difficulties/impairments/etc.Even under the worst teacher they should do better than they are doing now. In fact, I personally know more than a dozen children whose only teacher has been Sesame Street and Leap Frog and do exceedingly better academically. This realization; the fact that they cannot do simple, basic processes that come easily and naturally to most children has propelled me to really get help for them before another year slips away.

My initial fear about having them tested was the labeling trap; and how happy doctors are to label, diagnose, and medicate little children. I didn't want that to happen to my kids. I must say the people that I have been working with have been overwhelmingly supportive, encouraging, objective, knowledgeable, professional, and sympathetic to our wants, needs, faith, and individuality. I couldn't ask for better support given the circumstances. No one has suggested public school, special ed, pills, or the like. (smile)

Her findings: First, this is slightly incomplete b/c she hasn't officially scored the entire assessment. I was there for the entire 4 hour assessment, which was broken up into 2 days. The 2nd part went like the first. The standard score is 100 which is the mean or average score. At the standard score 100 represents the 50th percentile. For example, Peyton's standard score for reading readiness is 70 placing her in the 2 percentile ranking. This means that she is more ready than 2% of her peers and less ready than 98% of children her age who were administered this same test. Not Dyslexia? The therapist(Ms. A) said Peyton is probably not a case of dyslexia b/c dyslexic children have average to above average intelligence, yet their performance/academics doesn't match their intelligence level. Peyton on the other hand demonstrates below-average to well-below-average intelligence in all areas and is a performing at her intelligence level. Coupled with the fact that she processes information slowly, has a language delay, poor short term memory, and weak comprehension.

The Good News: (Ms. A) said Peyton is learning(albeit, very slowly) therefore she can learn. She said our reading curriculum (The Writing Road to Reading) is very strong and she can see how Peyton is using the skills that she has learned to help her read and write. She has good skills. She said that homeschooling is the best option and that Peyton is lucky to have her mom teach her. What Now? Try to get her into therapy. (Ms. A) uses The Wilson Method, which is similar to the Spalding method that we are already using. She is willing to mesh the two together and create a program that works for us. Keep working on her memory and comprehension. Do a lot of phonemic awareness exercises. A lot of repetition, and by a lot I really mean a MAMMOTH/UNCALCULATED amount of repetition. Break tasks into the smallest of steps and DEMONSTRATE everything. Integrate gross motor skills into learning and different fingering techniques for reading. She suspects that learning will always be very slow and very difficult for her, but encouraged me to keep praying for her education and her little brain. She said I'm going to need a lot of patience and grace. (more than I feel like I have most days)

The Goal: Help her to learn and absorb info.

Attitude: Peyton has a surprisingly great attitude about school work. Her favorite subject is reading.(smile) She doesn't even know that she struggles, she doesn't know...that she doesn't know. She has no idea that she has a hard time learning. She doesn't feel stressed or overworked. That is so key!!! I pray continually for patience and joy while teaching her, and when I feel exasperated I won't teach her. I NEVER want to reinforce failure. I want her to walk away from each day feeling victorious and positive about learning. If I fail with patience...she'll just plain fail.
But guess what, FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION!!!


BY PERSEVERANCE THE SNAIL REACHED THE ARK-Amish Proverb
I might write this proverbs on our walls (smile)