Miss Abby Can Read! Can you?

First off sorry I am I failed to update my Homework Chronicles so I am going to shelve that idea for while.  Thankfully the math has moved from shapes and line segments to something much more accessible.Though tonight was graphs but we figured it out.  I will update with whats going on with homework front from time to time.  Today we had one of the best homework times we have had for while.  Abby struggles with reading but she has gotten so much better.   We have started reading some Dr Seuss recently  and Abby loves it. Tonight we started Mr Brown can Moo! Can you?  She told me "Don't freak out mom but that was fun!"  Reading should be fun.  I am so glad she is getting to a point she can enjoy it instead of fighting through it.  There is hope at the end of the tunnel.

Here is a video of Abby reading tonight.  We actually went back to a page she had already read because she didn't want to make herself look silly (even though she looked fine) She read tonight better than she has ever read with me.

Reading is so important.  Literacy is the foundation of a person's education.

Homework Chronicles: Day 2

Today was one of those wacky homework days.   Should have been easy and low stress but in the end I think we all left a little frustrated.

Reading:  She read with her father today. Its good for her to get practice to read with other people.  She read a more complicated book than yesterday.  She read a few pages of "I Love Daddy"

Abby dong her writing homework

Writing: Today she had writing homework.  Its generally a few words from the weekly "Word Wall".  She is suppose to write the words out three times and write two sentences. This is actually the first time it has come in braille. Generally she does her responses in braille on another sheet of paper. She was able to do it independently of me which was GREAT.   I do suspect she was a little lazy with her writing work. Which is something we will have to work on.

Math:  It was one of those days that "Everyday Math" tries to be creative with a nontraditional assignment.  The assignment was "find shapes in magazines/newspaper and cut them out"  Not a very accessible assignment. The print version had examples of different shapes as did  her braille worksheet.  I had her feel the different shapes on the sheets and talk to me about them.  There wasn't much more we could  do.  She was upset about not being able to do the assignment like everyone else. All of my solutions were not close enough.   This is one of the things that frustrates me about Everyday Math.  It sometimes has assignments that obviously didn't have a blind child in mine when it was written.

Stress Level: Medium to High

Happy Birthday Louis Braille

Louis Braille was born January 4th 1809.  Louis Braille created the braille code when he was just 15 years old.  

Reading Braille is Fun

I am so grateful to what braille has already given Abby In just her first year of braille instruction.  She is still a begining reader but nothing is more important in a child's education as literacy is.   I can't imagine anyone watching a child learn to read with braille can think its obsolete.   Sit down with a blind child and let them read to you.

Today also ends the NFB Braille Readers are Leaders.  I will have a final page count for Abby soon.  I know I am really proud of my braille reader.

Homework Chronicles: Day 1

Today is the first day of "Homework Chronicles"  I will be blogging about Abby's homework the whole month of January.
Abby is in second grade. They use the "Everyday Math" curriculum in our school distinct.  

Abby's finished math homework 

Reading:

Abby picked the book "In The Woods" to read. Its a pretty simple book that was a good pick for her because it reinforced her reading skills that are getting stronger and stronger everyday.  She added the book to her reading log for the week in braille.

Math:

picture of math assignment 

  Today was one of those 'fun' math days.  Line Segments.  Abby gets the print worksheet and the the same worksheet in braille.   The braille worksheets works pretty well most of the time. . Line segments I have found need more work.  This was the second time she had had homework on line segments the last time was shortly before the holiday break. I realized shortly after she started to do the assignment that it wasn't working for her at all.  She was trying to do it like everyone else using a straight edge and making lines but she was having a  hard time finding the points and than she couldn't see the lines she was making.  I made a trip to Michaels and got  form shapes and and their version of wikki stix (they are NOT as good as name brand wikki stixs and bendaroos)  I put small foam squares over each point and  had her use the sticks to make her lines.  I have no idea if this was the right way to do it  but it worked. It worked  a LOT better than what was there.

Tools with Math homework

Stress Level:  Medium to Low It was much more stressful the first time we dealt with this issue. 

Happy New Year

I realized I haven't blogged in a while.  Its not for a shortage of material.  There is so much to blog about.

I have decided I am going to blog about Abby's homework for the whole month of January. Abby homework is a struggle for many different reason and it will be helpful for me to write about it and perhaps it would help another parent.

I also am going to work on blogging about another issues.

Abby exploring a relief sculpture this past August 

2011 was a great year and I think 2012 is going to be an even better year i am sure of it.