Summer is here and the livin’ is easy. Or something like that.
And there’s a lot of truth to it. My husband and I were just talking last night about how one of our favorite things is going to concerts and movies (mostly with our kids!) in the summer because it feels so easy. Sitting in my lawn chair at an outdoor concert just listening to old 50’s and 60’s tunes (some of our favorite swing music!) just makes me feel relaxed. Like I don’t have anything to do, so just sit there. (I have a LOT of trouble sitting….unless I’m doing!)
One of the greatest homeschooling joys—and greatest challenges—during my thirty-two years of homeschooling has definitely been teaching my kids to read. My undergraduate degree is in elementary education, and my master’s work is in reading specialist. So, um, yeah, I should have been a specialist.
I have loved teaching reading again! And I have loved creating products to use for letter recognition and sounds/letter recognition. It is so fun to work with younger children again…and makes me anxious to teach my grandkids to read (or help teach them!).
In this Wondering Wednesday video, Donna Reish, author of seventy curriculum books totaling over forty thousand pages, answers a mom’s questions about helping her son who is struggling with reading. Donna talks about readiness, creating a learning environment, combining language arts/grammar studies with reading studies, the importance of immersion in the reading process, using learning styles in teaching reading, and much more. Donna’s reading blog posts can be found here. Donna’s Wondering Wednesday podcasts and videos can be found here. Donna’s downloadable Letters and Sounds phonics programs can be found here.