It's nearing the end of the day. Bohemian has gone to pick up the boys from church. They insisted on going, and even though their goals weren't all met, I said they could go. Bard's doing the dishes and I'm thinking about the coming day. Today was alright...we got several things accomplished. Bard and I worked on her 12 times table, which is still hard for *me* to remember. We actually practiced them together. Monet surprised me in a big way. I got out the sight word flash cards to occupy him while I was waiting for one of the other kids to complete a goal. I really didn't think he'd know them, but I thought it would be good to practice them. He knew them *all*! Pretty impressive for a kid who says he can't even read. Very impressive for a kid who refused to even try to read as recently as October '02. So now he is old enough and meets the requirements for attending the Choral Society auditions. He's incredibly excited. Actually, I am, too. Really, we've just practiced reading together. I read to all of them when I can. I've used a method of spelling words that is actually pretty simple and very effective. I have printed out all of the Dolce sight words on 4x6 cards (there's a site with a printable table of the words at ). Each of the kids keeps their spelling words in an index card file box. Every day, they take out the cards and their spelling notebook, and they "study, cover and spell." Basically, they read the word aloud, then they trace it with their finger, then they turn the card over or cover it up. After that, they write the word in their spelling notebook. They check their word against the index card. If it's right, they get to write the date on the back of the card. If it's wrong, they correct it. After they've spelled the word correctly four times, they can put it in the back of their box. However, if they can't get it right during our weekly spelling bees, it comes back to the front. It's working well for Monet, but Edison, who would be diagnosed ADD in a more conventional setting, doesn't seem to be able to retain any rote memorization. We're working on better ways to approach such things with Edison.
Now it's time to go over their daily goals and get ready for tomorrow. I hope to have goal sheets printed out today and be ready for breakfast before I go to bed. I don't really like such rigid schedules and hyper-organizing, but I'll try it. It just may help.
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