Different learning styles

A little update on our reading curriculum. We started with a primer from Abeka. Ady is doing great with this and is willing to challenge herself with small readers. She will often be found sitting on the couch browsing books, sometims reading to herself, sometimes simply enjoying a much loved story. She automatically reads print in the environment: commercials, movie menus, mail, road signs, etc. She happily picks out books at the library and will snuggle for long periods of time enjoying books together.

Then there is my sweet Caiden. He would be my reluctant reader. He has quite mastered three letter words. (CVC) LOVES the Bob books. Quite enjoys being read to, he honestly can't resist a story read aloud. When they were little and I'd ask if he'd like me to read, he would say no, so I would read anyway. I wouldn't get past the first page before he'd be snuggled up enjoying. However, getting him to read is another story. He started with the same primer but has not developed the same affection for sounding out as his sister has.

I was browsing the lovely internet recently, under the topic of visual learners and learned quite a bit about my son.... actually mostly confirmed things that we notice everyday. Like how easily he tunes me out (I know, this is also synonymous with being mother/child) How he dwells on the pictures in the book and the letters seem to be a puzzle. Sounding out? close to impossible. He tells me he is reading in his head...makes it difficult to assess where he is.
and so, we are trying another direction which he seems to be enjoying. I am hoping that I will "stumble" upon the right pieces at the right time. I am depending on my mommy gut and my love of free teacher resources on line, and his interests to guide us.

For the time being Caiden and Adyson are enjoying one on one reading lessons. They had been doing them together...but I do want to accommodate their different learning styles in this area. While I am working with one, the other is allowed to "play" on Starfall which is one of my all time favorite phonics websites.

Adyson: we read a page of two in the primer. Then read a couple of early readers. She is progressing nicely.

Caiden: We are practicing with word families. I am printing out small word family lists and have them on metal rings to end up with a book. Caiden loves reading the small pages and zipping through the lists. Then we choose one of the endings for the white board and he writes/erases/rewrites beginnings to make lots of words, always keeping the end the same. He likes this a lot. Then we write silly sentences with the same word family and one of the sentences becomes his handwriting for the day. Then we read an early reader.

This is something I was looking forward to with homeschooling. We would be able to adjust and change midstream if necessary to better fit the kids and/or our family needs. I love that we can stop our lessons before the point of exasperation and return to it later when attitudes are great again. (even mommy sometimes needs to teach at a different time!) And so, 93 days into homeschooling and we are still loving it!