We finally finished Lexi's 100th reading lesson. Remember back in November when I posted her 55th reading lesson? Well, we got up to 74 and stalled. I had too much work and it was quite grueling to keep her focused and interested. The lessons went out the window. When we got back to Texas, Lexi’s friend (daughter of my friend) was close to finishing the 100 lessons. That gave Lexi the motivation she needed to nag me to do them.
I decided the best way to do it would be to start over again. We finished the first 20 lessons in one afternoon. Getting up to the first 50 lessons went quickly. Lexi remembered all of the sounds and sped through them. After that, we rarely did more than one lesson a day, but we kept up with it. We both really wanted to finish before school starts. Also, she has been excited for the ice cream party that I promised her from the beginning.
When people find out that Lexi isn't in pre-school this year, they give me judgmental looks. I just tell them that I am teaching her how to read and that she gets to play with the kids at the YMCA every day. She also has Jordan to play with. I’m almost tempted to tell people that I am homeschooling her just to see if that is more acceptable.
I’ve been wondering, when did pre-school become the norm? It wasn’t normal when I was a child, at least not in Utah. I am not saying it is a bad thing. In fact, I think pre-school is wonderful, but I can't afford it this year. If I had the money, I'd like her to attend at least twice a week. However, I feel that it is optional and not necessarily better.
Another mom at the YMCA doesn’t have her son in pre-school either. She asked me what are some of things I worry about that Lexi might have problems with when she gets to kindergarten. I don't really have any. She mentioned that she heard that standing in line and raising hands was an issue for some non-pre-schooled kids. Seems too simple to worry about that for any child. I already know that Lexi doesn’t have a problem with either of those.
A good friend in Texas had complained about being judged for not enrolling her kids in kindergarten, which is odd because she was a teacher before she became a stay-at-home mom. In addition to a tight budget, her decision also had to do with the fact that she just wanted to spend as much time with her kids as she could. All moms know that kids grow up too quickly. Lexi wasn’t even two when my friend told me about feeling judged. I didn’t see what the big deal was at the time and frankly, I still don’t.
My friend even taught her two oldest kids to read very well before they started kindergarten. They have been the top readers in their classes. She told me about the lesson manual she used and warned me that it requires a lot of patience and can be grueling at times, but that the rewards were worth it. I have been working on it with Lexi this year mainly because she is ready and needs a challenge. Yesterday, she completed her 55th lesson out of 100. I made a little video so everyone can see her progress. Here she is reading part of the story that was in her lesson that we did later:
Yes, she plays it up for the camera. Here is a photo of the story:
Every once in a while, I come to a point where I am tired of my blog. I don't have anything interesting to say (ok, so that hasn't stopped me before). TOO MUCH WORK and entertaining kids keeps me busy. I guess mainly I should admit that this week I am distracted by the newest book in the Twilight Series "Breaking Dawn." I have admitted on this blog that I am not an avid reader. I just don't make time for it. However, I started reading the first Twilight book soon after Jordan was born & certainly had to read the other two. Now, the newest one came out & is over 700 pages. It is sucking up (**it is a vampire book) all the extra energy & seconds of down time I once had. It will soon be over though and then life & blogging will resume.
