It's Official

We just got back from getting Tracker tested for dyslexia. It is official he has it. It has confirmed what dh & I have been saying for months now. We just went and did the test. Tracker said that it was easy & comfortable. I think that it was great. While there we learned that dh & I most likely have dyslexia as well. There were too many times that we sat there and went..wait that is me. It is hereditary. So now we know that there is a chance(50%) that Dragon and Squirrel has it as well. The tester even went as far as to say that we should just start over with Squirrel's reading with the Barton Reading. This lady was great. She even suggested that dh & I do the tutoring ourselves. She said that it would save us money and allow us to use the program with all of our children.

Favorite Read Alouds

I have started to read poems to the children before we start any seat work. I also have been picking a different person to read about every week or two. I also just recently picked up The Wind in The Willows to do a lapbook on. I am looking forward to this, since I have not read the book in years. We are also going to be listening to The Tale of Despereaux on the way to the trip Thursday. We will get the movie from Netflix when we get back and compare the too.

I would like to make a list of future read alouds. My children have enjoyed the Charlie Bone series, Harry Potter, Boxcar Children, and Spiderwick Chronicles. Do you have any favorite books? I would love some that are historical fiction.

A Book Giveawy You Need To Check Out

Julie over at Booking Mama is giving away a copy of Aesop's Fable.

If you get the chance check out her blog!

Just A Word of Advice....

Don't ever try and read a Stephanie Plum book first thing in the morning. Your howling laughter just might wake the kiddos up before they should be up.

I did that this morning while reading Plum Spooky. I laughed my fanny off. I had tears running down my cheeks. I love to read Janet Evanovich's books. I am always laughing until I cry. If you ever need a good laugh check out some of her books at the library.

The Family Times

Today for our read aloud we read What Was It Like? Benjamin Franklin by Lawrence Weinberg. The kids loved the book. When I tried to stop and finish reading another day, they begged me to continue. We learned that Ben Franklin created the first lending library, the first American fire department, and the lightening rods. When we finished reading about Benjamin Franklin the kids did some activity pages from school express. They are all in love with word finds at the moment.

Dragon had the idea to start a newspaper called The Kids Times. He said that it will be a 16 page paper put out every Sunday. I told him that was a lot, but he really wants to give it a try.

I have always liked the idea of a family newspaper. We are going to be creating our very fist family newsletter/paper. It will be called... The Family Times. We spent a little bit of time giving out assignments. The kids decided that we had to have a kitchen section. Dragon wants to put in his special spicy sauce recipe. Squirrel wants to add her favorite snack recipe Pan-Seared Black Bean Dumplings. Tracker is going to write a review for our favorite restaurant Red Robin. We are going to have a picture section that I am responsible for. We are also going to have a News sections. The kids decided that we needed to have a review of the remodeling that we are doing in the house. They also said that their dad needed to write this article.

We are also going to include a school section. It is going to include what we are currently studying, what's next and any field trip information that we might have. I think that the kids will really enjoy this.

Grammar on the Door

Yesterday we did grammar on the door. I have converted my sliding glass door into a giant dry erase board. My kids love it! It is not very often that you hear a child beg to do grammar or math.

We are using Igniting Your Writing. It is a little bit above Tracker & Squirrel, but they are learning while doing it in a group. They will only being doing "group lesson" once a week. I will do the other grammar lesson on a one to one basis.

I also learned that my children must do math more regularly. They had a hard time 'refreshing' their minds as they put it. But that is ok it will make me more accountable.

Yesterday was the day to make appointments. I talked with a dyslexia tutor about getting Tracker tested. She will be able to do the test in 3 weeks. Tracker will also be going for his speech evaluation on March 4. I am nervous about both of the sessions, but I know that I am doing the right thing. I was told that the dyslexia tutoring could take up to 24months. That is a little daunting, but hey as long as he is making progress it is well worth it.

A Day of Books

I feel like almost everything that we did today was related to books. When went to the library only to find out that they were closed. There was suppose to be a clown show today, however the fire alarm had other ideas. Evidently, the library's fire alarm had been going off since 4am. Then the a/c went out. So our local branch was closed for the day. We ended up going to a different branch. The kids loved it. We ended up walking out of there with 20 more books. We then went to Office Depot to get our Flats( from Flat Stanley) enlarged. Dragon is doing Flat Spider, Tracker Hammy the Hammerhead, and Squirrel's flat is Princess Penguin. We will color them in tomorrow.

Once we got home I read them Lon Po Po A Red-Riding Hood Story from China. They kids loved it. Then I read them another version of Little Red Riding Hood. We then compared the 2 different versions. We looked for similarities and differences. They kids had fun trying to see if they could 'catch them all'. Tracker & Squirrel made wolf masks (once I get the string I will get pics). Squirrel is also working on Little Red Riding Hood stick puppets.

The next book we read was GOT Geography!

It is a book of geography poems. I highly recommend this book. I thought that Tracker wasn't paying attention, but he kept suggesting better poems for me to read. The kids started to ask some questions about globes and the equator. Since I don't own a globe, I looked on United Streaming and they watched What is a Globe?

A new thing that has been happening while we are traveling is Dragon reading to Squirrel in the back of the truck. Today he read Turtle Tide to her. Later Tracker read Hip-O Gets A Pet. Yep he is VOLUNTEERING to read. Can you believe it??

After dinner tonight, I told the kids to pick out a book for me to read. I ended up reading 6 books! We had so much fun. I read about a Lantern maker in China, pandas, dinosaurs, a crying baby, snow leopards, and the Chinese Zodiac Animals. Here are some the books that we read...
We also listened to Boxcar Children's Mystery on Blizzard Mountain. It is the first new Boxcar Children Audio book that I have heard in years. We also started to listen to Charlotte's Web Audio Book.

I also got a wonderful Mannheim Steamroller Cd. It is Saving the Wildlife. I loved it. It is very relaxing. We listened to it while we were cleaning.

Summer Reading

Today we saw Mr. Wonderful the magician. The kids had a lot of fun. Dragon even went up to be his assistant. The kids also have a bookmark from Taco bell offering them a free taco and a free bean burrito if they read 10 books. My kids are excited. They are half way there. So by next week they should be able to get their free tacos. I guess I know what we will be eating next week. LOL.

We LOVE the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini.
Here is a message from the author himself. Go here to see a video messages from Christopher Paolini.

Do you want to learn more about Eragon and Alagaesia?
Go HERE.

Here is a new site for a new generation of Dragon Riders.

Learning A-Z Open House

Learning A–Z Open House Starts Today

Teacher Appreciation: Try One Learning A–Z Website a Day The Learning A–Z Teacher Appreciation Open House begins today—Monday, May 5. That means anyone, anywhere can get free access to one of the six Learning A–Z websites each day of the week. Today our gift to you is Reading A–Z. Enjoy your choice of thousands of resources: leveled books, lesson plans, and worksheets; poetry books; high-frequency word books; phonics and alphabet worksheets; and reading assessments. Access Thousands of Books, Lessons, Worksheets The websites will be open on the days indicated below, from midnight to midnight Central time. Monday, May 5: ReadingA-Z.com Tuesday, May 6: Raz-Kids.com Wednesday, May 7: WritingA-Z.com Thursday, May 8: VocabularyA-Z.com Friday, May 9: Reading-Tutors.com Plus a bonus day—Monday, May 12: ScienceA-Z.com Sign-up Today, and Benefit All Week If you are not already a registered user of one or more of the Learning A–Z websites, just register for Open House (www.learninga-z.com/openhouse) then visit your My Account page each day to activate the free pass for the appropriate website. A registered user of any of the Learning A–Z subscription websites can go directly to the My Account page to collect free passes. Thank You! Most importantly, enjoy your free time at the Learning A–Z websites and your access to thousands of materials for differentiated instruction. Sharing these resources to help you meet the needs of every student is the best way we know to honor your contributions to children’s education. Thank you for all you do. Sincerely, The Learning A–Z Staff support@learninga-z.com 866.889.3729

HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that I am a little excited????
Tonight Tracker read a paragraph of 6 sentences and he only needed help with 2 words. But better than that he read the piece as if he was bored, as if it was too easy. I was in tears.

See we believe that Tracker has dyslexia. We have struggled with this for a few months. We have tried different phonics programs until last week. I talked with a friend who is a resource teacher at a local school. She recommended color overlays. She said that sometimes they help. Well I decided to print out a dolch story on green paper and HE DID IT!!!!! His father was speechless. Dh has never heard him read with such easy. He read as if it has been reading forever!!!!

Ok bragging time is over for now. :-)