Week 2

Okay so week two was really the second half of week one. We finally got all of our school stuff in the mail so for week two we did all the week one work that we hadn't had before. Things are getting easier as we get a routine set.

First off we started using Handwriting Without Tears. After only one lesson I have noticed a huge difference in John. I really have high hopes for this program for us. I got a book for Bella too and I think it will help her as well. She writes pretty well on her own but forms a lot of letter the wrong way so some extra help should do her good. And I found some wipe off letter books at Walmart for them to practice in. It's great to be able to use dry erase markers and then wipe them off, instead of wasting a ton of paper everyday.

John's least favorite part is when I read aloud to them. We're now reading from chapter books and he hates it. He just really gets bored and doesn't follow along well. I'm not sure that he'll ever really get into it but for now he's just going to have to deal with it. I did buy a copy of Charlotte's Web to read them, I'm hoping reading a story that he's familiar with and can compare to a movie he knows will help him follow along better.

Bella least favorite thing is phonics. It's hard and she doesn't like things she's not good at. We're starting out with Hooked on Phonics for now. The first part of the video is "at" words. Bat, sat, cat, pat etc. The lady in the video says the words and she repeats it, then in the second half she's supposed to say the words first before the lady in the video. So when her turn came up she burst into tears, crying about how it's too hard and she's not good at it. She said she can clean really good but she's just not good at this. After calming her down we tried again and what do you know, she was able to figure out every single word by herself before the lady in the video said them. We're taking phonics VERY slowly for now. Bella gets frustrated with it easily and John's just not ready to combine sounds yet. I had the hardest time learning to read as a kid so we're not rushing this.