Can I brag on this boy for a second?!
In January I resigned from my teaching job and withdrew Tanner from his public school. I had so many doubts, but I KNEW in my heart that homeschool was the best option for him. He had recently been diagnosed with severe dyslexia and as much as we both loved his school, they simply did not have the funding or resources to adequately close his tremendous achievement gap.
Before making the decision to homeschool, I researched and read everything I could on dyslexia. I traveled 2 hours to meet with a dyslexia specialist and paid more money than I want to admit for private testing. I applied and earned a scholarship to attend first 30 hours of Orton Gillingham training, which is a proven method of reading instruction to help dyslexia (and all) kids. I paid out of pocket for the next 30 hours of training.
We had our ups and downs with homeschool. There was lots of tears, but also lots of smiles. We both learned a lot. When covid hit, we realized how lucky we were. Kids across the world experienced a shift in education. We stayed our course.
I was passionate about tracking Tanner’s progress with a standardized test. I didn’t want my “mommy heart” to cloud my judgement of closing his achievement gap. He took the IOWA assessment in January and again in May.
TIME TO BRAG…. in only 5 months Tanner improved:
+8 months overall in reading
+4 months in word analysis
+1 year and 3 months in math
+5 months in social studies
over 3+ years in science
Overall Tanner showed an improvment of 1 year and 6 months….. in only 5 months!
I am so incredibly proud of my boy. I always knew he was special and bound to do great things. He is finally getting the tools and instruction to show everyone else how smart he is. I love being able to help provide this for him.
A decision has been made…. here’s to another year of homeschool!!! 4th grade is my favorite grade to teach…. and I get to be my son’s 4th grade teacher! I’m a lucky mom ❤️
