Day 1

I began homeschooling my 3rd grade son in November of 2010. Several things led up to me making the decision to homeschool. My son battled with behavior issues, learning difficulties, and being made fun of in school. There were a few suspensions, the first taking place in kindergarten. He was in the lowest reading level in his class year after year. When his 3rd grade teacher mentioned holding him back from advancing to 4th grade, I decided it was time to take his education into my own hands.

After a few months of stressful teaching, I arrived at the decision that home school was not an option anymore. We were fighting constantly and hadn't made it through a full day's lesson plan in weeks. I noticed something that prompted me to dig further. He was still confusing his b's and d's. I had mentioned the word dyslexia to his kindergarten teacher, but she quickly said it was too soon to make that assumption. At 3rd grade, I thought maybe it was time to look further.

I started searching testing options in my area. I found this website www.dys-add.com. I emailed for a list of testers in my area. I began calling them all. They suggested before anything I should watch the 3 hour video, "Dyslexia Symptoms and Solutions." It was the best 3 hours of my life!!! Susan Barton, who is the speaker on the video, basically described my son to a T!!! What I found from this website, explained my son in great detail, from difficulty holding his pencil, to his inability to spell a word that he spelled perfectly last week on his spelling test.

I set up an appointment to talk with a testing specialist. After just 20 minutes she could see that my son had dyslexia as well as some other common difficulties.

He was diagnosed with moderate-severe dyslexia. He also has some common other difficulties that accompany dyslexia: dysgraphia, auditory discrimination problems, and ADHD.


While we have arrived at a diagnosis FINALLY, after years of struggles, we now begin to restructure everything. How he learns is different than all of us. How he understands language is different than all of us. Dyslexia is a language processing issue. He has difficulty understanding language.

So we will begin tutoring using the Barton system, which was created by Susan Barton, using the Orton-Gillingham approach. Our tutors are two of three certified in this system in our area. A mother and daughter that work together to tutor children with dyslexia. They will teach reading, writing, and spelling. I will teach all other subjects at home. At this time we will be start with math, creative writing dictation, geography, typing, history, current events, science, and online research. We also take at least 20 minutes of quiet, alone time as well as meditation.

I learned so much about homeschooling when I began from blogs. Even more than any other search on google. So I decided this would be my way of reaching out to help others that are just as lost as I was. Truth is, my son had all the typical signs of dyslexia, but because his teachers nor myself were educated on what dyslexia looks like, he wasn't diagnosed until now. I want to educate people about what to look for because signs begin as early as 1 year old, and the earlier it is caught, the sooner kids can be taught in a way they can learn!