Motivation

My Jeffrey struggles to read. He just isn't "getting it". We are trying another program and have a list of reading programs to try if this one doesn't work for him. I am so thankful that we home school. He would be so embarrassed if he was in public school. He would for sure be in the slow reading group. The sheer volume of time that he has needed to get as far as he is makes me positive of the fact that he would be left behind. It's possible that he would have "special" reading classes, but I highly doubt that his self-esteem would take the abuse of being "special". Although I don't have the skills or training to know exactly how to help him, I have a large and vastly educated support system whom I Praise the Lord for. We are making progress.

Riky has taken to bribing him. When Jeffrey can read this certain book to Riky, he gets $10. Everyone is motivated in different ways....

Jeffrey will read soon enough and once everything clicks into place he will be an excellent reader. I am sure of it. He is starting to see the importance of reading and how it is necessary in our everyday lives.

Tuesday I sent Jeffrey down to the freezer to see if he could find some flour for banana bread. As usual, I described the packaging and spelled the word "Flour" to help him find what he needed. He went downstairs and came back up with the flour rather quickly. There have been many many times that he has been sent to the pantry and come back with the wrong item because it looked similar, and he didn't bother to try to sound out the word on the packaging. But not this time.
Wednesday morning we were putting away groceries and Jeffrey sighed when he picked up the bag of sugar to set it on the counter. He looked me right in the eye and said "I can't wait until I can read."
"Me neither, but why do you say that?"
" Well, the flour and the sugar bags look a lot alike. Yesterday when I went to get the flour, I thought that I had found sugar instead, so I licked the stuff that was spilling out. It was flour, not sugar. I wish I could have read it first, because flour doesn't taste as good as sugar. It dries out your tongue, too." You should have seen is Big Brown Eyes all sad and droopy. He looked me right in the eyes and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Poor little guy.
He started laughing, too and we had a wonderful moment together. I now know that he has an interest in reading that he never had before.



Maybe this is just the motivation that we needed all along!