I'm beginning to see the light

Homeschooling a sensory and ELL kiddo often takes me to my limits in the patience department, even with the very small amount of official school work that we do. But that reality alone makes every victory won that much sweeter.

Up until now, J has learned letter sounds, but could not make the connection of stringing the sounds together into a word. Rather than stress her out, I just started letting her observe N's reading lesson so she could absorb the information without the pressure of figuring out the words on her own. The past few days, I've noticed her whispering some of the answers to herself while N was reading for me, so after N's lesson today, I sent N in to color and decided to try the lesson over again with J. At first, she shut down and gave me the whole, "I can't do it" line. I told her I heard her reading when N was working, and that I didn't expect her to do things perfectly; I just wanted her to be willing to give it her best effort, and I would help her. She went for it, and successfully sounded out multiple words BY HERSELF, and a FOUR sentence "story" at the end of the lesson with a little help from me. We were both teary-eyed by the end. She was just glowing.  

What a sweet connection moment it was for us when I could look her in the eye and tell her how proud I was that she worked so hard, and didn't give up on herself.  I could see her confidence soaring, and she was so proud to tell Daddy about what she had done.  While I normally wouldn't push on reading at this point, the Holy Spirit prompted me to nudge her this time, to let her know it was ok to try and fail, but that it was worth the risk to try.  I'm so glad I listened, and I'm so glad she felt safe enough with me to go for it.  I may have missed her first words, but I feel like I got a bit of that gift back today.

We've also talked this week about house rules.  Fun, right?  I have felt like all I did was correct, correct, correct, all day everyday.  I was exasperated, and the kids must have been too.  So I did some analyzing (and praying).  Was I expecting too much?  Was I being a total Scrooge and trying to micromanage everything they did?  My conclusion was that our most common issues could all be boiled down into five basic rules.  While those rules can encompass many different scenarios, I thought it might be simpler for the girls if I could just remind them of one of the five overarching rules rather than nit-picking every little issue.  So, in no particular order, the house rules are:

1. Speak kindly and respectfully

2. Wild and crazy behavior is for OUTside

3. Practice good table manners

4. Listen and obey the first time

5. Take good care of your things and clean up after yourself

So yeah, rule number two can be used for everything from running and screaming to acting like we live inside a pinball machine.  Rule three is suitable for nose picking, gibberish, squirming, twisting around, not using napkins...you get the picture.  But simply restating the rule causes them to have to stop and think about what they need to correct to follow the rule rather than me having to harp on every little behavior.  I wasn't sure if that was going to make a difference, but surprisingly, it has drastically changed our week from the norm.  They are quicker to get back on track, they are learning to stop and think, and they even seem to be more cooperative in most situations.  Granted, it may be the newness factor, and it might blow up in my face tomorrow, but for right now, I'm thankful that it's working.  It makes all the difference in the world for me emotionally and mentally.  We've also had a lot more time to do fun stuff, and I've been able to reward them with more privileges to go along with those responsibilities.  

It's been a great week, and I'm thankful.