Slow progress

It has been a while since I last posted. What I have come to find is that my concerns were right. The teachers do not seem overly concerned but I am. I was observing how everyone in AD's class is placed. It  became clear to me that the brightest pupils are all sat together whilst those struggling are sat together. This to me is  major problem. My son has struggled with reading but he can read a little bit just not quite on the level according to the guidelines. He is sat with all the other kids who are struggling. His maths is really good and he is doing well there. It is just his reading. If I could still afford to pay Ms Z. I would. I felt that she improved his reading and confidence  a lot.

So now I am seriously considering buying the book Reading Reflex which is what I had planned to do months ago. The reviews make it seem it is something that can work. Everyday my son wants to read and do maths. His teachers always say that he is very keen to learn and very enthusiastic. Though more is needed. I also think the governments current preferred method of teaching is at fault. Phonics should be mixed in with other systems of reading. I was not taught the phonics way and I excelled. Phonics is okay for learning sounds but I think it should not be the only system in place.

The aim now is to build confidence in reading and get him to a point of complete independent reading. He currently receives extra sessions of guided reading every day but more needs to be done. 

Practice makes perfect

So AD has been back at school for a full week now. His homework diary is huge. As he goes to a catholic school it also includes a nice section of short prayers. I am happy with this as we are a Christian family. 

His homework has been to practice writing his name and writing numbers 1-10. When he was working with Ms Z this would have been easy no argument. With me he seems to want to be in control and not take direction. Thankfully his Dad backs me up and we manage to get him to concentrate.

I need to find a way to get him to write better and still improve his reading. 

Summer Tutoring complete

 Last Tuesday marked the final tutor session for AD. He returns to school this week and will be in Year 1. His Tutor Ms Z. said that his confidence at sounding out the letters and blending them together has improved. Such a clear difference from his first session to the last. She is interested to know how he progresses at school. I have sat down with him to read and I could tell he has a better understanding of how reading works. He often says to me that he wants to do his homework, which is reading. I hope and pray he develops the same love of reading I have. He already has an impressive library at his disposal.

Reading by memory or skill

AD had another tutor session. Next week will be his last session, only because the new school term will soon begin. Yes not a reason to stop but we will see how he progresses at school in year 1 before continuing his tutor sessions. My friend suggests using Kumon which has a longer commitment and possibly higher costs. I will consider it nonetheless at some point.

During AD's most recent tutor session his reading has improved a lot. I queried if it was all just memory but Ms Z. says that it is part memory and part sounding out the words and blending the sounds together. It is the stage that he is at. I so want him to excel with reading so that he can start to enjoy the nice mini library of books I have bought him over the years. 

His handwriting is starting to improve too. He has been writing the tail of the lowercase 'A' on the left and not the right. This has been pointed out to him and he is doing his best to remember. What I need to now do is look at things to do at home during school term to keep his mind ticking over. 

Tutoring review

Yesterday AD spent his scheduled time with his tutor Ms Z. She was lovely as usual. The session began with a game of Fishing for Phonics. There are a handful of picture boards and the child has to tell you what objects and things they can see. The the board is flipped over to show the names of all those objects to see if they got them right. The next step involves a fishing rod toy with a magnet end and a set of letters where the child fishes for the correct letter that each object begins with. Ms Z had AD say each letter and its corresponding sound. He enjoyed this.

Next he read his book which he was given as homework and he did quite well. It seems to me that books with a lot of repetition really do help. He still does need a lot of help in being able to blend the sounds together to make reading easier. This has been noted and will be a focus to improve on.  This session also included practice spelling of three letter words and going through the phonics alphabet checking how he progresses with each sound.  

Next week he shall be doing some handwriting and going over his summer homework from school. 

1st Tutoring Session

So my son had his very first 121 tutoring session with Ms Z. She was so so lovely as my friend who suggested her said she would be. My son who I will refer to by his initials so not to confuse with his brother who in a years time enters the school system. So just for clarification AD is the oldest who I am paying for extra 121 tutoring and TJ is his litte brother who is very keen to learn new things as well.

Anyway back to the session. Ms Z began by checking to see what AD had already learned and what he knew already. She went through the phonic sounds singular than double. He was then tested to see if he knew the names of the alphabet from a jumbled up list. He had to state them in order and point to them. He did very well. I cannot remember how many different stages of phonics there are but she said he was at level 3. The next task was spelling three letter words using these letter pebbles that look like giant Smarties. After a bit of research I found that they cost around £12 and are Smart snacks ABC lacing sweets by Learning Resources. From this exercise it was clear that he could spell some basic words but when putting them together he often went for the second letter first. When prompted he managed the correct order.

Final task was reading a level one book from the Oxford Learning Tree. He was asked to describe what was going on in the story from looking at the pictures and then he was given a chance to read the book. For each word he sounded out the letters as the phonics method teaches and then tried to piece the sounds together to get a word. He still needs practice but was able to work through the whole book. He did not stop and tried really hard.

So from this very first session I feel he is going to benefit from it. I went back over the book with him and he is starting to already recognise some words that are new to him and be able to read some of the book. I now understand why these books are written with so much repetition. AD said he enjoyed his session and is happy to have more. I thought 30 minutes would have been too short but it's turning out to be the perfect amount of time.

Tutoring

Having done some research and taking tips from other parents. I may delay buying Reading Reflex and concentrate on buying great books with good story lines and animation that I read to my children and they try to read back to me. Dr Seuss does seem to be a favourite amongst many readers. I have a complete set of Oxford Learning Tree books. I will refer to Phonics for Dummies at times as I do have it and may as well make use of it.

My friend put me in touch with her friend who is a teacher. She does 121 tutoring and actually teaches Reception class. It will cost me £15 for an half hour session. During the school holidays I intend to use her expertise once a week and then when he is back at school I may swap to 1hour sessions every other week. I hope by doing so he gets his basic reading level where it needs to be. He is just below the expected target. Now the teacher feels nothing to worry about at this stage however I am choosing not to wait till the end of year 1 before I act. 

Have you done anything to help with your children's literacy? What tips can you give me?

The Learned Child

I have decided to create a new blog about the education challenges my son faces. He was slow to speak and I found that after a holiday with his Dad his speech regressed. He has caught up loads and since starting school his vocabulary has grown immensely. Now because of issues with speech, which his new teacher who takes over in September tells me he struggles with the letter T and D. I am not too sure if I get this as I can hear him say words that begin with those letters. However I will see what they do and take it from there.

Over the six weeks school holidays he has homework. I believe it is about 30 minutes of work per week but looks like loads more. The homework covers handwriting, reading and mathematics. This will be fun to work with him. I hope over the next six weeks I can get him reading ready for year 1. I plan to buy a book that has great reviews called Reading Reflex. If you know of any websites that specialise in children’s education please let me know. I believe in him and my abilities to get him where he needs to be.