The next line is about not counting your money while you’re sitting at the table but I don’t carry cash so that one doesn’t apply to me 😉
The knowing when to walk away is in relation to HE and the kids. Not walking away from HE just having a chill out about the whole reading and writing thing which has been knawing (doesn’t look right, is it?) away at me quietly about D. He runs a mile from stuff like 100EL now, refuses to do overt stuff like a workbook but left to his own devices is slowly getting there and as tough as I’m finding it to leave him to his own devices it is clearly the best way to deal with it. He had a rare bath on his own the other day (the bath isn’t rare, but he usually shares it with Tarly) and sat for ages and ages playing the foam bath letters – he called us in to show us he had spelt ‘no’ although he had actually spelt ‘on’ and today he put a load of foam numbers from an ‘educational’ puzzle in numerical order – except they were right to left instead of left to right. Both times we said well done but explained that writing runs from left to right without making too much of it. I’m avoiding the wild temptation to start considering whether he is dyslexic (not entirely groundless – Ady’s brother is badly dyslexic, I believe my brother is and Ady certainly has lots of problems with his spelling), although I don’t actually know if dyslexia is hereditory and frankly within the environment of an autonomous HE household where I am trying to apply a fairly hands off approach I don’t actually think anything different to what we are currently doing would be in order – I guess if he does have difficulties in that area then they will be more apparant as time goes by. His general knowledge and observational skills, conversation and imaginative play are way ahead of his schooled peers so I can live with a little coasting along on literacy and numeracy for a while longer, and he is surely up to reception year standard from what little of the key stage goals I am aware of.
We’ve been at home lots the last couple of days and I am striving to be available to them when they want it but leave them alone when they are quite happily engaged in something else. There is certainly a fine line between neglecting them, leaving them to make their own entertainment whilst not shutting yourself away and being too proactive with them and taking over. I like the fact that they often amuse themselves for the largest part of the day but sometimes their games would be slightly more productive if I pointed them in the direction of certain toys or started them off on stuff before retreating, or issued them challenges such as ‘build me a…’
Today we’ve done some baking (chocolate chip cookies – and eaten the outcome), walked round the shops and chatted about what we saw, talked to the neighbour and discussed left and right, and north, south, east and west. Davies drew some pitures of people to recreate the characters he’d seen on some cbbc programme first thing, got me to cut them out and then he laminated them himself, they’ve done loads of drawing, built stuff with the megabloks, been Charlie and Willy Wonka, I’ve read a couple of books aloud to them (something I would like to do more of but I need to select the books as I cannot bear to read ‘are you my daddy?’ lift the flap book one more time which is the one Tarly always brings me 😉
I’ve also bored even myself with blogging about when I have got the washing done, the food shopping or made lunch so I am going to start being a little more selective about exactly what I blog about. I intend to make this one mostly about education type stuff and the children although realising that most of what we do in the course of the day is educational in some way I intend to leave the tedium at the door. Also realised just how many smilies I use and fear it has become the new equivalent of too many exclamation marks. I need some new ones to express things more accurately (Jax can you help??) or to stop using them altogether! 😉 😀 !!
Right, off to set Davies up on some game on the pc and Tarly wants to make some flower clothes peg people from a kit we unearthed yesterday, might be back later if I have more to say than simply what we are having for dinner.
gnawing, I think you’ll find.
Smilies, yes, I’ve a file to finish putting together for my blog, and then I think I said I would put it on yours and Ros’s? I’ve been very lax recently, can’t think why 🙁
I quite enjoy hearing about your day in all its gory detail…
Comment by jax — 23 August 2005 @ 3:57 pm
It’s gnawing. Dyslexia ;-)?? I so know what you mean re the smilies. it’s driving me a little mad as well, though I think I use them mainly as I can be a little – er – acerbic, and I’m trying to soften the tone.
Wouldn’t worry at all about the dyslexia issue till/unless it becomes one. Yes, it does tend to run in families, but IME the first manifestation is not in spelling or transpositions. That comes later. It’s much more about difficulties with ordering, grouping, memory and organisation initally. I think I’ve mentioned before that I HATE 100EL with a passion, though we have had to use a very structured phonics approach with Hannah, that one killed me. It’s about the most soul-less thing I’ve ever come across (HEers all over the country are priming their weapons as they read this, LOL), and it remind me of the disasterous experiment they did with the shortened teaching alphabet in the 60s.
Anyway, thought you weren’t going to put your PC on till evening?
Comment by Joyce — 23 August 2005 @ 3:59 pm
Great minds!
Comment by Joyce — 23 August 2005 @ 4:00 pm
giggle.
we didn’t get on with 100EL either. In fact, our best tips on learning to read came from your previous commenter 😉
Joyce, would you like the extra smilies as well then?
Comment by jax — 23 August 2005 @ 4:33 pm
I gnew it had a silent something at the front and whent with the wrong wone 😉
There is stuff I do like about 100OL but I think I’ll sit on it and see if Tarly likes it instead! He does know most of the letter sounds and names now and can reliably tell me what sound/letter is at the beginning and end of a word but struggles with the order of the letters in a word when spelling it out or reading it (eg pan could easily become nap for him I think as he processes the sounds then mixes them all up to find a word instead of blending them from left to right), but will fret about it all another time as I reckon it will not be an issue we won’t deal with as we go along really.
Smilies usage is exactly what you said Joyce – trying to soften something I’ve written or show I am joking / what tone I meant it in, and possibly also something of a habit – the typed equivalent of ‘y’know?’ or ‘like’. Yes please when you have a moment Jax, although I imagine moments are in short supply round your way! 😉 and have a new PC timetable which I am about to share in a post!
Comment by Nic — 23 August 2005 @ 5:03 pm
My brother had what was called cross-lateralism back in the Dark Ages. He scans naturally from right to left and has to sort of reassemble words once he has scanned them. It means it confuses the hell out of him when people misspell things, esp. their/there type mistakes, because he doesn’t readily make the usual soundalike connections. A side effect is that his spelling is very good indeed. I don’t think that it would have been a problem for him at all, except it was not diagnosed or addressed until quite late on. His younger daughter had it too, it was dealt with early and I don’t think it has ever been any kind of an issue for her since.
Comment by Tim — 23 August 2005 @ 5:29 pm
Yes, please, Jax
Comment by Joyce — 23 August 2005 @ 5:43 pm
Hello!
But I have to know what you had for dinner!! (and !!! for good measure as I don’t know how to do smilies and probably can’t)
The right-left thing: yes, F does it too, but, er, that’s not very reassuring for you necessarily is it, given her history? Reassuring for me though to hear of Davies doing it. Out of interest does he read a digital clock the right-left way too? F quite often does, unless recently reminded or recently practised.
From what I’ve seen Davies is definitely working on sounds and letters in his own way and at his own pace. I can understand that you might sometimes want to find some ‘magic media’ or angle that will give him that extra interest – I know the feeling. But I think there is definitely development happening in that area, perhaps currently in a quiet backgroundy phase?
And I’ve forgotten when you’re coming to see us again (insert your own smilies and exclamation marks as appropriate) – please be kind and tell me.
Comment by Ali — 23 August 2005 @ 6:44 pm
‘don’t actually know if dyslexia is hereditory’
or even hereditary…….or is this ‘cos of your voting inclinations…..
Comment by Chris — 23 August 2005 @ 10:22 pm
pmsl – what an excellent way of proving the theory 😉 of course it could be a freudian slip in your suggested way too…
Comment by Nic — 24 August 2005 @ 5:19 pm