Lesson 2 - April 6, 2015

Jacob was in an "let's see what happens" kind of mood.

He brought his awesome bow to show me, which was super cool. He was very descriptive and detailed when he talked about it. He liked showing me how far he could pull it back.



1. Going back to all our words from Lesson 1, we reviewed them.... then cut out letters and mixed them up. Jacob had to figure out which letters went where to spell the word.



This was not an easy task, but he tried REALLY REALLY hard and did great!!!

He did really well on these words. He always got the double "r" first.

He kept putting "a" upside down until I told him it needed to sit on its bum.

The "ow" was the same in both words, and he liked associating that.







We did the other words, like "love" and "live" and "Idaho" and "spider" ... he did pretty well with those too.




Jacob did really well with STOP.

Perhaps it's because it is very familiar to him.

Also last week I told him to YELL it, since it had an exclamation point. Boys love yelling. :)

2. Next we played this game I found on this website.

It is great because you can write in the letters. Today we did A-F.

The first time we played, we used cards with either a picture or a typed word. So if you choose "apple" you get to move to the next "a" on the board.

The second time we played, we had to find stuff around the room.

 Jacob loved this game. He also loved beating me twice!

He also loved eating gluten free crackers and strawberries.

Jacob has natural instincts about words and sounds that are mostly correct. But sometimes he doesn't trust his instincts. 

He needs A LOT of reassurance.

3. Next I wanted to see how far Jacob could go. This next activity was a matching game--- it was going to be TOO HARD. I knew it would be too hard for him. But I wanted to see how he handled something that was too hard. 

I asked him to match the word to the picture. He had a lot of trouble getting multiple sounds to escape his brain.

After two cards, he completely shut down. His face, body, and attitude were totally gone.

So we stopped the matching game.

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4. Next we just talked.

He talked about how he DOESN'T KNOW letters.

He talked about how OTHER KIDS LEARN FASTER than him.

He talked about how traditional school DOESN'T WORK for him.

He talked about how he has had teachers GIVE UP on him.

It is so hard to see him so sad and frustrated and defeated. 

I told him I wouldn't give up on him. That he knows at least half of the letters. That different people learn different ways. That he IS SMART. I told him I was sorry he was so sad and frustrated.

Sometimes a step back or a breakdown in learning is really quite essential.

And you know, usually it happens in week 2. (I was a camp counselor at a summer camp, and the girls were a dream for a week, then had breakdowns in week 2. Kids show their true selves, and this is where they learn who they can trust. They are also testing you.) 

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5. I did want to show him that even though he felt "done" that he could still COME BACK quickly and keep learning.

That's where humor comes in. I read him this book about this boy tipping on his bike. If you are silly enough with your voice, the story is funny, especially to a  9-year-old boy.

I also want him to know that books aren't scary. So we will read one every lesson, whether I read it or he reads it to me. This time I read it.

6. Finally, I printed the alphabet and had Jacob circle his FAVORITE letters in red, then his LEAST favorite letters in purple (because that's a girl color :).

He kept saying "I don't know... I don't know...."

I said, "Right now I am learning what you DO know and DON'T know, so that we can know what to do next."








Jacob was in an OK mood when he left. 

I feel bad that he has carried this around for so long. His mom has tried so so so hard and it's been a challenge.

Our First Goal is to get him to a 3rd Grade reading level. So that's what we'll do.