I am looking for feedback from anyone here who has used the reading program lesson plans from Dianne Craft’s website. I was pointed to them from a TOS article, and I’m not sure exactly how they are supposed to be used. It seems as though I need to purchase her Brain Integration Therapy Manual, but I’m not sure.
The other thing I’m wondering about is that the article I read said that you use the lessons twice daily, 45 minutes each time. That may or may not fit in with CM methods, but I know that even though my son is 13, his lessons often need to be shorter than that.
So, if you have used Dianne Craft’s lesson plans, how have you adapted them to fit CM methods? Any other suggestions for using her program?
We’re getting ready to start it in the fall (one week). We’re going to do once a week brain training along with daily exercises to help with the gate blocks. I have the reading program and I haven’t read anywhere that you need to do two lessons a day – only one, which is broken down into different segments that total 45 minutes in length. We’re not going to spend that amount of time doing the reading lessons (but my daughter is reading at or above grade level – I can just tell she’s compensating for some mild dyslexic tendencies.) The one MAJOR area where the reading lesson goes against CM methods is that you’re supposed to have them read word lists for 15 or 20 minutes – I can’t remember which, but I think that is just TOO long to be reading only lists and THEN having them go on to read the story. I wouldn’t have my child do that length of time, especially if it upset the child. If he/she enjoyed it, then I MIGHT do it for that long, but if they are enjoying it, it’s probably because it’s easy and they probably don’t need to do it that long anyway.
Sorry, I’m not much help. I’m really looking forward to using this program, because I’ve heard such great things from people in our homeschool community as well as from my pediatrician.
I DO think you need to get the brain integration therapy manual in order to use the reading lessons most effectively. I can’t imagine doing the reading lessons without also doing the exercises for the blocked learning gates. The good news, is that you should be able to sell the manual used when you’re done – as it’s hard to find used – so people are eager to buy it.
Aha – I think I found the 2 lessons a day you mentioned. In the summary of her daily lesson plans she has 45 minutes of exercises for reading and then another 30-45 for writing and spelling. That’s probably what you meant. And while these do seem like long lessons, they are broken down into several parts, so he wouldn’t just be reading aloud to you for 45 minutes or doing 30 minutes of spelling words. She does talk a lot about the intensity of the program and that it requires a lot of work on the part of the parent and/or teacher – probably beyond even what most teachers are used to doing with kids that need remediation, but she does insist that you’ll see a two year gain at the end of one year of work… so…. I’m trying to remember your whole story Sue and about your son from other posts, from what I can remember this will probably be a lot of time to spend, but just imagine the joy and confidence he’ll have when he’s accomplished a two year gain. Also, if it makes ALL of his learning easier, it would be SO worth it. Perhaps this year, you can just do the three R’s (and Bible memory) with him. If he’s putting in a good effort in those three areas, I wouldn’t stress about science or history or whatever. I’ll be keeping you in my prayers.
I have used her program with my daughters. It was great for my oldest and my youngest made slow progress but nothing has worked for her…. yet 🙂 You do eye, body and handwriting exercises. I never spent as much time as she suggests. That would have been way too long. Total it was all about 1 hour a day. I have her Right Brain Phonics and Brain Integration Manual for sale on Homeschool classifieds. If you are interested, send me a pm and I can cut you a deal.
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