I haven’t posted anything for awhile! We’ve been doing a lot of hands-on activities and little field trips here and there, so I haven’t been on the computer too much. It was really nice, because Tim hadn’t been on T4L for about two weeks, and we hadn’t really done a lot of ’school’ work, which includes reading. He went on today, and one of the sections he did on language arts was where he had to read a story. I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to, usually is memory doesn’t hold anything unless we hammer it EVERY day. But he was able to read along and only needed a little help! It feels so good to see his accomplishments, the little ways in which he’s progressed, and see him really enjoy learning!

I honestly could not ever see sending him to school, and missing out on all of this! I’m very selfish in that area, I want to watch every step of his development and have a part in his reaching his milestones. It would really be depressing for me for him to bring something home that he did, and know that someone else taught him to do it and not me! The day will come soon enough where he will go out into the world and I won’t be as big a part of his life, but I’m not going to allow that to come any sooner by sending him to school now. Somedays, it is VERY tempting, but when I wake up the next morning I’m ready to do it all over again.

I just realized today that it’s been quite awhile since any of the activities have frozen up on us, warranting going back through them. Has anyone else noticed this? I’m wondering if whatever was causing it, has been fixed.  Oh! I came up with an idea for using the social studies that is too advanced for Tim! I couldn’t stand the idea of just using T4L for the language arts and math, it seemed like such a waste of what is offered. So, I go on the social studies, read it myself, and make a lesson on it breaking it down where he can understand it. Then, it gives me a point of reference to look up other sites that gears it down a little more to his level.

What do you all do when a child has gone beyond what T4L has for their level? Tim is almost done with 2nd grade science, and he finished 2nd grade social studies a few months ago. Third grade social studies was just out of league, it wasn’t interactive enough to hold his attention, and I’m pretty sure science would probably be the same way. The LA extensions aren’t really helpful, either. They need a science extensions!
The LA extensions is good for the first section of it, but after that it loses his attention too much. We use other sites as well, so I’m not worried about his not getting the material he needs, but after today he’s only going to be on T4L for language arts and math. Now, Josh is just getting started with T4L, so I’ll still be using it for him. But, only the math and language arts, again, because the science is too hard for a preschooler.

Or Native Americans, whichever you prefer, is what we’ll be learning about this month. My mom was part Cherokee, so I’m going to tie it in with our roots just like I did with Irish and Italian heritage. Each month we’re picking something to focus on, I think I said this already! I post on so many things I can’t ever remember where I said what! But, I’m so excited! This Saturday we’re going to a powwow!! I’m reading a chapter book to him, a small chapter book in a series called Three Cousins Detectives  Club, called The Mystery of the Eagle Feather. It’s about a boy who makes friends with a child who lives on a reservation, and he learns all about their culture, while at the same time trying to solve a mystery with his cousins. It sparked Tim’s curiosity, and he wanted to go to a powwow. I got online, and there just happened to be one near us on Saturday, so we’re going! I’ve always wanted to go to one! I’ll take pictures and post them on here if they turn out.

Short post today, I have a lot to get done!

I decided to interview Mr. Tim about his use of a program called Time4Learning, to find out what makes it so special. Tim is a kindergartner in CA, but he uses this program to help him with 1st grade language arts and math, and 2nd grade social studies and science. His little brother uses it, too, but was unavailable for comment. Here’s the interview we conducted on April 15, 2008. Read for yourself, and decide if this program is all it’s cracked up to be!

AL- Mr. Lindsay, what would you say is your favorite thing about this Time4Learning?

MT- I like the funny people and animals on there.

AL- Is there anything that you don’t like about, anything that bothers you?

MT- I don’t like waiting for them to shut up when they tell me how to do something and I already know how to do it. They don’t let me go forward and do it, they just keep talking and talking.

AL- Do you have a favorite funny person or animal on there?

MT- I like that ruler guy, the one on the math.

AL- What is your favorite thing to learn about on T4L?

MT- I like science best, it’s fun!

That concludes this portion of our interview, Mr. Tim had a favorite program to watch and he wasn’t happy about the interruption.

In most areas, Tim is far ahead of where he should be, I do believe he’s gifted. But one area that has been a struggle has been letters, sounds, and putting it all together. It’s not that he can’t do it, but he has memory problems in this area. He is extremely sensitive, and if he feels like he isn’t doing good he gets extremely frustrated and this can bring on a meltdown, it pushes his sensory issues into overload. He can learn the letter names and sounds, but if we give it a break for even a week, we’re in trouble! And, if he’s struggling to learn something else, the letters and sounds take a back seat every time, he just can’t focus on two things at the same time. What’s strange, is on T4L, he’s doing 1st grade for language arts and is reading! It takes A LOT of effort, he hates sounding out the words. We do this with readers, too. He also has a hard time with middle sounds. He can tell me the beginning and end, and can find them on the T4L lessons,  but the middle is harder for him. On there, they sound out each sound, and he can do that, but if I say ‘cat’ without emphasizing the middle sound, he misses it. Is that age appropriate? I’m not sure, so I don’t know if I should make a big deal out of it or not.

I started realizing that his memory is much better for memorizing whole words than the sounds, but not in terms of remembering them from one day to the next. He can do that, but only if we use the word A LOT. If we’re reading a reader and I help him with a word, he’ll remember that word through the whole thing. Our readers have about 15 words used over and over again in the stories. So, yesterday I tried something with him. I took some three-letter word flash cards. I held on up and we named the letters, said the sounds together, and said the whole word. Then, I removed the flash card and had him try to write them. He did six words, and got them all right, perfectly, without any help. He wasn’t sounding them out, but he was memorizing the names of the letters and writing them. Is this a sign of a photographic memory, or is it that I’m confusing him by mixing the names of the letters with the sounds? It might be that I don’t need to worry about the sounds, just the letter names and work on whole words? That is so foreign to me, though, and I’m not sure how to teach whole word vs. phonics. I taught myself to read phonetically before I was even in kindergarten, so I just can’t comprehend how he can learn to read without understanding phonics. Any ideas??

It could also be that things are finally just clicking for him, the combination of the letter sounds and names (he’s just now able to tell me what sounds the letters make when I ask him, for most of the letters) and if I change what I’m doing, it might confuse him more. I’m just not sure what direction to go. I do know that I’m going to keep using the flash card idea, because he was having so much fun with that! No stress in his face at all. Up until now when he’s writing I’ve been writing the work and having him just copy it. Then, a few weeks ago, I started saying words and having him spell them by sounding them out. He did pretty good with this, but there was still some stress there. He flips out of he gets something wrong, so he only wants to do what he knows. Makes it hard to try to get him to branch out! And, most kids learn to write by spelling words wrong, don’t they? I’ve heard that before. Like, tough would be spelled tuff, cute would be kute, etc. He stresses so much, I’m afraid to not help him spell words because if he makes a mistake he won’t want to try again. Yet, if I focus on teaching him to spell perfectly, isn’t that telling him he has to be perfect?? UGH! So many questions today! I just don’t want to screw up and turn him off of learning. I know that it can be a fine line with kids with autism and kids who are gifted, so for a kid who is both, it makes this journey really unnerving sometimes. I guess I want a manual to tell me exactly how to teach him the way HE needs to learn. Ha!