Heidi

anyone remember me? It's been at least a year since I posted. At
LEAST. More, I'm sure.

I'm enjoying everyone's posts, especially the TV, food, and bedtime
thread, and laughing at My Former Self who would have sniffed a
hearty, snooty SNIFF at "all that TV"

Just thought I'd drop in and see how things are going in this group,
and update youse, if you're interested.

Last January we moved to Ogden, UT from Idaho ranch country. We are
within walking distance of the local community non-profit theatre,
where my 17 year old daughter spends pretty much every evening. She
landed the part of Narissa in their upcoming production of Merchant
of Venice. Narissa is the lady-in-waiting for Portia: the main female
character. She's also assistant stage manager for the current
production of Forever Plaid, and will be the assistant director for
the upcoming musical The King and I. She's been babysitting for my
sister since we got here, but is now putting in applications for a
part time job, in order to afford her acting and voice lessons.

The younger kids are absorbed in TV, gameboy, a computer game called
Rune Quest, Star Wars, big cats, some Playstation, snow play, dog
care, ( for which my youngest hires herself out in the neighborhood
and makes a buck here and there)

Middle child just turned 12 and is Mr. Mellow, concerned mostly with
mastering the latest computer game and making sure to be in front of
the TV when Teen Titans comes on. And running.

Youngest child turned 10 last summer, and is still not reading, good
LORD. But she approached a woman in the neighborhood who specializes
in dyslexia at the local school, and we're going to get set up with
an assessment. This is something my youngest has taken on herself,
completely. I don't necessarily want to get involved w/the public
system, but if it's what she thinks will help her get a handle on
reading, then we're going to do it. Reading aside, she's having no
trouble with expressing herself and has a fantastic vocabulary, and
is superb at spatial things. She's also got a way with numbers.

I am taking piano lessons at the advanced level, pushing towards the
spring Flying Fingers Festival and loving every minute of it, even
the scales in minor and minor natural keys. *shudder* The piano
studio is also within walking distance.

One big reason I dropped in was to give a jolt to our unschooling. To
remind myself that it's a GOOD thing. and it is.

Nice "seeing" youse. Now to get reading some more posts.

blessings, HeidiC

[email protected]

. . .bunsofaluminum60@... . . .
(Hey, good to see you back!)

<< Youngest child turned 10 last summer, and is still not reading, good

LORD. >>

Holly wasn't either at that age. She was reading Stephen King as 12.
I advise against the dyslexia appointment. So what if she IS "dyslexic"?
She still needs to learn to read her own way. It's all anyone can do.

-=I don't necessarily want to get involved w/the public

system, but if it's what she thinks will help her get a handle on

reading, then we're going to do it.-=-

If she things that's what will help her but it doesn't help, she will just
feel there's something wrong with her, and it could not only hinder her reading,
but get officials too interested in your homeschooling.

-=- Reading aside, she's having no

trouble with expressing herself and has a fantastic vocabulary, and

is superb at spatial things. She's also got a way with numbers.-=-

Same with Holly.
It was easier for Holly when she did start reading because she had a big,
broad vocabulary.

Sandra

Heidi

--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
> . . .bunsofaluminum60@h... . . .
> (Hey, good to see you back!)
>
> << Youngest child turned 10 last summer, and is still not reading,
good
>
> LORD. >>
>
> Holly wasn't either at that age. She was reading Stephen King as
12.
> I advise against the dyslexia appointment. So what if she
IS "dyslexic"?
> She still needs to learn to read her own way. It's all anyone
can do.

Yeah, I don't like the idea. In fact, I'm pretty sure just from
reading, that she has dyslexia, and Katie knows it, and accepts it.
The scenario I see coming from an official diagnostic appointment
would be almost for sure, the public school at the very least,
pushing to have her enrolled. If there ever was a kid who shouldn't
be subjected to the classroom, my katie is her.

thanks, Sandra. Katie and I will talk about it some more.

blessings, heidiC


has a fantastic vocabulary, and
>
> is superb at spatial things. She's also got a way with numbers.-=-
>
> Same with Holly.
> It was easier for Holly when she did start reading because she had
a big,
> broad vocabulary.
>
> Sandra

[email protected]

In fact, I'm pretty sure just from
>reading, that she has dyslexia, and Katie knows it, and accepts it.-=-

It's not a disease or a debilitating condition that you should say she "has" or that she should need to accept.

If you had just told her she would learn to read when it made sense to her and couldn't a moment before that, you'd be telling the truth. If you tell her there is a thing called dyslexia and she HAS it, it sounds negative and awful.

If Marty had gone to school, school would have (for purposes of justifying their reading lab and their two or three master's-degreed reading specialists) diagnosed him with "dyslexia." I never said that word to him and didn't even think about it while he was little. He read at nine. He reads fine, and lots, and with no regard whatsoever to "reading level." He never read baby stuff, only real things.

What six to nine year olds do at school is rarely real honest-to-god reading anyway. They're sounding words out from books that were designed to only have words they were likely to be able to sound out.
Even the library books they end up being assigned or seeing are often kid-level books, designed to "make reading seem fun and easy!!"

Sandra

Barbara Chase

I would be considered dyslexic, and thank god I didn't have that label when
I was a kid because instead I just figured out ways around my "problem."
And the only problem that I had was that I didn't read the same way
everyone else did (or more to the point, I didn't read the way everyone
else thought I should.)

I say wait until it all clicks naturally. Anything else is just torture.
Some may even say to you 'it's important to do this early' or 'there is a
certain window of opportunity." This may be true, but only with the
perspective that the child will be in the school system. All of the
studies are with the #1 assumption that kids are suppose to read early.

I've always said that if I had been left alone I would have naturally
started to read between about 12 and 13. I remember the shift that
happened for me at that time, physically and mentally. That's when I was
ready, but by then I had given up on it because it was something I knew I
couldn't do. By then I had figured out how to be successful at school
another way.

I have to say that I'm making a guess about this, but I bet that all of the
techniques in the reading programs aren't about helping the kids learn to
read but are designed so the teacher can see for themselves that the kids
are reading the way they are "suppose" to. When I finally figured out how
to read *my* way it went against every reading comprehension program I'd
ever known about. I was reading w/o comprehension (ie. I couldn't take a
test on it), but I absorbed and integrated what I read... it started to fit
into my life, I made connections with other things. It was really awesome,
and so much more real than anything one can be tested for.



Barbara

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

-=-I bet that all of the
techniques in the reading programs aren't about helping the kids learn to
read but are designed so the teacher can see for themselves that the kids
are reading the way they are "suppose" to. -=-

You're right.
It is called "accountability."
Teachers need measurable outcomes so that they can prove they're doing their jobs. They show their "outcomes" to principals and parents.

Joyce wrote a good article on children as products of school. It is maybe here:
http://sandradodd.com/joyce/product

Sandra

Julie Bogart

--- In [email protected], "Heidi" <bunsofaluminum60@h...>
wrote:
>
> anyone remember me? It's been at least a year since I posted. At
> LEAST. More, I'm sure.

I remember you! We joined at the same time. Remember?

Too funny that your daughter is in Merchant of Venice. I just posted that my 17 year old
son is in As You Like It. And his life sounds like your daughter's (as do the rest of your
kids and mind).

I love that you are playing piano! I started grad school. It's great to be learning and doing.

It's nice to have made the shift to unschooling, isn't it?

Julie B

Pamale Teitelbaum

==If you had just told her she would learn to read
> when it made sense to her and couldn't a moment
> before that, you'd be telling the truth. If you
> tell her there is a thing called dyslexia and she
> HAS it, it sounds negative and awful.==
>
>Yes, when Joshua (8) was in school and having trouble
with reading, there was lots of dyslexia and LD talk -
from us too as dh and at least one of his brothers
understand themselves to have dyslexia as well.

It reminds me of the 'I wish I had known" thread

I wish I had known to trust that my son would learn to
read in his own time and labeling him would have no
positive aspects whatsoever

Please trust that your child will read when she is
ready and help her to trust this as well.

Pamela



__________________________________
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Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less.
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mamaaj2000

--- In [email protected], Barbara Chase
<barb@n...> wrote:
>
> I would be considered dyslexic, and thank god I didn't have that
label when
> I was a kid because instead I just figured out ways around
my "problem."

When I finally figured out how
> to read *my* way it went against every reading comprehension
program I'd
> ever known about.

Hmm. I didn't figure it out until my late 20's, taking some business
classes at night. If I had figured it out before high school,
college, etc. I'd sure have had an easier time.

I think the label would have helped me if it came with the strategies
for coping and just the idea that my brain worked differently than
other people's--who were held up as 'correct' in some way. Just a
year ago, I read about ADD and felt so much relief at understanding
the whys of various aspects of me!

But. I was in the school system being told that I should be able to
spell words easily since I read so much/so well. Being compared to
other kids, comparing myself. I don't think anyone ever talked about
different strategies for learning until college.

So I can see that the label might not matter to an unschooled child
who has an individual learning style, strengths and weakness that are
respected. OTOH, if a child were noticing the difference between
him/herself and other family members, I could see the explanation--
and not necessarily the label at all--being helpful.

--aj

Heidi

--- In [email protected], SandraDodd@a... wrote:
> In fact, I'm pretty sure just from
> >reading, that she has dyslexia, and Katie knows it, and accepts
it.-=-
>
> It's not a disease or a debilitating condition that you should say
she "has" or that she should need to accept.

> If you had just told her she would learn to read when it made sense
to her and couldn't a moment before that, you'd be telling the
truth. If you tell her there is a thing called dyslexia and she HAS
it, it sounds negative and awful.

First of all, what you say makes sense. And, in my heart of hearts, I
know that she will some day start reading, whether I fret about it or
not. It is a bit difficult not to fret, because we have two public-
educator grammas in the family. So, I don't think I've come across as
completely worry free about this.

But in my own defense, the reason why I mentioned it to her at all
was, Katie herself was beginning to wonder what was going on, since
she really REALLY wanted to be able to read, and it wasn't coming. I
checked out a book from the library two years or so ago, the title of
which i don't remember, but it explained dyslexic brains as being
extraordinary, not flawed. The ability to see things in all their
three dimensions is a trait that should be envied. When I explained
dyslexia to katie, she was completely accepting of it, and even a
little bit relieved "Oh! THAT'S why I'm not reading yet." I consider
it sort of like a person maybe with a port wine birthmark,
thinking "What is WRONG with me!?" and someone telling her it's a
skin mark that she was born with, nothing dangerous. That's not the
best analogy, but I can't think of a better.

And as for her accepting it...well, if she was in school, and
officially diagnosed with dyslexia, she would have been made to know
for sure that she was flawed because of it, and more likely NEVER to
accept it. Better to accept it and learn everything you can about
both the strengths and the weaknesses inherent with a spatially
oriented brain, than to be told "because you can't decipher two
dimensional figures with your three dimension-prone brain, you lose."

Whatever else we've done, we haven't placed a negative connotation
upon the term dyslexic. Promise

blessings, HeidiC

> Sandra

Heidi

Hi AJ...

> So I can see that the label might not matter to an unschooled child
> who has an individual learning style, strengths and weakness that
are
> respected. OTOH, if a child were noticing the difference between
> him/herself and other family members, I could see the explanation--
> and not necessarily the label at all--being helpful.
>
> --aj

This is just how it happened in our home. Katie was noticing that,
among friends her age and even younger, she was not reading, and they
were. She knew she was different, and it was almost a relief to her
when I explained what dyslexia was. It's too bad it has a "dys-"
prefix, and right now I'm reading a Mel Levine book about different
minds, and he uses the word "spatial learning" or some such, and she
appreciates the bits that fit her style, when I read them to her.

This book, btw, describes the mind that functions better at night,
too. :) He even says "it's too bad we don't have schools for night
children" well *we* have just such a school! And once again I'm
thankful that my Katie hasn't had to cope with the public system.
She's able to stretch her night-owlness at home, because she can get
up when she gets up.

blessings, HeidiC

Heidi

--- In [email protected], "Julie Bogart"
<julie@b...> wrote:
>
> --- In [email protected], "Heidi"
<bunsofaluminum60@h...>
> wrote:
> >
> > anyone remember me? It's been at least a year since I posted. At
> > LEAST. More, I'm sure.
>
> I remember you! We joined at the same time. Remember?

Yes! I remember, and was tickled to see JulieB's name when I looked
at the messages page.

>
> Too funny that your daughter is in Merchant of Venice. I just
posted that my 17 year old
> son is in As You Like It. And his life sounds like your daughter's
(as do the rest of your
> kids and mind).

This is cool. Maybe they could exchange email addy's.

> I love that you are playing piano! I started grad school. It's
great to be learning and doing.

grad school! In what field? that is wonderful news. I just love my
piano lessons. Right now I'm focusing hard on Debussey's "Reverie"
and learning a simple version of Franz Lizst's "Hungarian Rhapsody,
No.2" in honor of my Dad, who died this past Autumn. Also, in the
theory and technique sections, pushing to get from level 6 to level
8. They figured I was probably in 8 for performance, but to
participate in the competition in May, all three must be at the same
level...and they wouldn't let me have all three at level 6. :) which
is great, because I'm pushing myself and loving it.


> It's nice to have made the shift to unschooling, isn't it?
>
> Julie B

Yes. It's been a good choice for us.

blessings, HeidiC