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New here! Help me plan for my 6yr old
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Hi, My name is Robin, mom to 7 kiddos. I have long admired CM’s philosophy, but could never really figure out how to make it practical until I recently watched Sonya’s day-long seminar. Excellent!
So, where shall I start with my 6 year old? She has some delays due to living in an orphanage in poverty for the first 4 years of her life. We have spent the last year and a half learning the letter sounds. She can know them all one day and not the next, so she is very challenging to teach:-) My goals are to get her reading and doing basic Math.
For those more experienced with CM, where would you start?
Hi Robin.
I would start with reading aloud to her. Snuggling and laughing together as you enjoy a good book is a wondeful way to nurture a love of reading in her. Simply exposing her to written words is extremely beneficial.
The two resources I can recommend are: The Letter Factory DVD and Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I used both of these with my boys. The Letter Factory was very effective. My boys watched this about three or four times over a period of two weeks, and BAM! they knew the letter sounds!
After Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons, we started using the Pathway Readers. They are wonderful. Such sweet and wholesome stories and when the children/characters do misbehave, they are disciplined appropriately.
Math Games are a great way to start little ones with Math. A nice set of building blocks/manipulatives are great for counting. Even simple card games and dominoes can be educational. Muggins has a game called Jellybeanz that my 6 yo son LOVES. (I do too!) Math U See has a Primer level if she’s ready for that. That’s what both of my boys used when they were ready for something more formal. We still play math games though. Games are a big part of our family.
Hope this helps some. Welcome to the world of CM. It’s truly been a wonderful journey for our family. ~Such a delightful way of living and learning.
I would start with enjoyable read-alouds and lots of time spent outdoors in nature. Bookwork can wait, and in this case, I think it would be best to wait until she’s really, really ready. Set her up for success by instilling a love of books and nature. (And good manners and habits toward family and her chores, as well.) That’s my advice.
Robin – I have a son who spent his early years in an orphanage too. He has several learning challenges. First I’ll say that the CM method has worked really well with him. He’s learning and growing and happy.
For reading – I second the Letter Factory DVD. And the other Leap Frog videos as well. We worked on letters for 3 years and he had such a hard time but with the DVD he knew them all in a week. Solid. After that I bought the Leap Frog alphabet flashcards and we played a game where if he knew the sound he could keep it and if he didn’t I kept it. We started with a few and worked our way up to the whole alphabet. Once he was solid with that I tried many reading programs. 100 Easy Lessons did not work for him. The one that finally clicked was Happy Phonics, mostly because it’s game/hands-on and that’s how he learns best. I also read a lot to him. I mean a lot. We are always reading something. He’s 9 and reading somewhere between a 1st and 2nd grade level. It takes him a really long time to master sounds and he still struggles to read fluently. I try to make sure I have lots of books he can read so that he always has something to choose from. The Explode the Code workbooks have been helpful for him. Maybe no totally CM-friendly, but it worked so I went with it! He’s recently started following along in the scriptures while I read and quietly saying each word with me while pointing to the word. His reading has improved quite a bit doing that.
We’ve done well with RightStart math, again because of the games and hands-on stuff. We also liked to count toy frogs or do pattern block cards or games or use measuring cups. Lots of playing with math things. He’s at grade level for math.
We also spend a little time each day talking about social situations and manners. I found that he doesn’t automatically pick up on them because he missed so much in his early life.
Best of luck. It can be challenging and frustrating, but very worth it.
Heather
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