public school

Four Grade Levels in One Year: Former Foster Child Finds Success and Confidence with Dyslexia Games

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment
Dyslexia Games Series B

Written by Heather Vaught

Eight-year-old Kassidy faced significant challenges with reading and learning in the public school environment. Thanks to Dyslexia Games, she’s at grade level and bursting with newfound confidence.

“She was eight years old when she came into our family,” says Jill Cain, adoptive mother of former foster child Kassidy. “It was a night and day difference between her and my biological children. She didn’t know letter sounds, but she could read some sight words, which didn’t make sense to me. There were other things too; it was like a jumbled puzzle that didn’t add up.”

Jill homeschools her biological children, but because Kassidy was a foster child at the time, she had to be in public school. The school provided her with a personal aide for an hour each day, but it didn’t help. Jill suspected dyslexia, but the school didn’t agree and passed Kassidy to the next grade, even though she couldn’t read.

The Emotional Toll

“When it came time for school or homework, she was completely shut down. She would cross her arms and not even try,” remembers Jill. “And when she did try, it was tears.”

Jill finally convinced the school to test Kassidy, and a dyslexia diagnosis was confirmed. She also convinced the school to hold her back the next school year to give her more time to learn and catch up with her peers. In the meantime, Jill researched dyslexia resources online.

Making matters worse, Kassidy was bullied at school. “The experience in public school greatly affected her,” laments Jill. “Her self-confidence was so low and it affected our relationships. She was very isolated.”

Fighting for a Fair Chance

In Jill’s online research, she stumbled upon Dyslexia Games by Sarah Janisse Brown. It looked promising, but Jill wondered if it would help Kassidy learn. “I knew she was bright and capable as she excelled in so many other areas,” notes Jill. “But how do I even do this, if the public school can’t do it?”

She decided to shelve her doubts, but the next step was for Jill to get legal permission to homeschool Kassidy. “I went all the way to the top,” she says. It took time, but finally, they were granted permission, and their homeschooling journey began.

Jill initiated some “deschooling” time first to give Kassidy a chance to decompress and build confidence and security. Then, when she felt like Kassidy was ready, she started her on just one page a day in Dyslexia Games.

 “It really drained her,” notes Jill. “It was completely exhausting to do one page. There were days she just wanted to bail, and I was unsure whether this was the right way to proceed because we didn’t see any progress.”

Breakthrough! Four Grade Levels in One Year

Persistence paid off. After about three weeks, Jill observed the first signs of improvement. When she pointed out something that needed correction, Kassidy figured it out herself. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh! This is working!’” Jill exclaims.

That was just the encouragement they both needed to keep going. As they progressed through the program, Kassidy experienced several more breakthrough moments in letter recognition, reading skills, and math skills.

“She had about a six-month jump in math in six weeks, that I just can’t explain except for Dyslexia Games,” Jill adds.

Jill turned the reins over to Kassidy, who began doing several pages a day. By the end of Dyslexia Games, Series B, she was reading at a 4th-grade level, representing a jump of four grade levels in one year.

Kassidy’s confidence soared. “We’re a read-aloud family,” says Jill. “We go around the room and read aloud. Before, she would refuse. Now she will read an entire chapter!”

Click here to keep reading about Kassidy’s story, including some tips from Jill!

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Fun-Schooling 101: Counting the Cost

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

If we look strictly at the “ledger”, comparing the costs of pubic education to a Fun-Schooling education, there are lots of things to consider.

First, it is of interest to note this statement:

…per pupil spending for elementary and secondary public education (pre-K through 12th grade) for all 50 states and the District of Columbia increased by 5.0% to $13,187 per pupil during the 2019 fiscal year…public elementary and secondary schools received $751.7 billion from all revenue sources, up 4.5% from $719.0 billion in 2018.

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/public-school-spending-per-pupil.html

Public schooling is big business, and each time a parent decides to homeschool their child, part of their revenue is lost.

Practically speaking, the costs for sending your child to receive a “free public education” are considerable. Lists of required school supplies are now provided to each parent. There are expenditures for lunches, activity fees, extracurricular supplies, uniforms and athletics fees, field trips, technology and textbook fees, and more.

Families will pay an average of $577 on supplies for elementary students this year, which marks a 5.3% increase over last year. Those with middle school students can plan on paying an average of $763 and high school students can expect to spend around $1,223 on supplies. Those figures mark 5.3% and 9.5% increases, respectively.

https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/the-hidden-costs-of-public-education

And most importantly, there is the “cost” of your child’s innocence while being exposed to many social and political agendas. There is the “cost” of their having an understanding of their true worth and establishing their identity in light of things that are lasting and eternal instead of in standardized test scores and the attainment of artificial “bench marks”. There is also the “cost” of being taught a humanistic philosophy, a skewed account of history, and science which eliminates the role of the Creator of all things and Master of all laws of nature. Indeed, God is subtracted from all aspects of their “education” for about seven hours each week day. Seven. Hours. (continued on Page 2)

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Fun-Schooling 101: Transitioning from Public School

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

I started out in the public school system. I failed third grade because I couldn’t really read, and couldn’t memorize math facts. I guess I turned out okay. I was always failing when I was in public school. When I was nine, I understood one thing–I was not as smart as all the other kids my age. I was being measured by a standard that totally ignored my strengths, and revolved around my immaturity and learning delays.

I’m the girl who could not handle structured schooling. It’s because I’m too much of a leader. In the 1980s, when I was in school, it was common for girls to be more easily manipulated by an authoritative system. It was expected of girls to give in, and learn in silence.

Traditional school works so hard to create submissive students. It crushes leaders.

Many boys are also natural leaders and don’t submit quickly to a authoritative system. It’s actually a good quality! Many kids, like me, resist submission, more and more these days. But schools tend to squelch individuality.

Schools don’t raise up leaders. We often are trying to push our kids into submissive learning, and that’s the main idea of socialized public schools. Get all kids to conform, make them good employees and obedient citizens. What are they trying to REALLY do? Create a population that doesn’t ask hard questions.

Fun-Schooling is a very joyful way to homeschool. We engage in fun research and logic based learning quests that focus on the individual child’s strengths, talents, career dreams, faith, family values and nature exploration. Kids learn through projects and journaling, with library books and educational videos! Much of the learning is focused on doing unit studies revolving around the child’s passion. There are Fun-Schooling Journals that focus on lots of different topics and subjects that kids love, like horses, travel, baking, gardening, survival, nature, art, writing and so much more. You don’t need “more curriculum” just any stack of books that you and the kids enjoy today along with the journals. Or just get Fun-Schooling Math, Fun-Schooling Spelling, and Fun-Schooling Nature Study and Geography. You will not need to use other materials to make this way of doing it complete. Look at our bundles here.

Click here to learn about how to Flip to Fun-Schooling!

THINKING moms want to nurture THINKERS and LEADERS. May your homeschooling style reflect the truest of your values and the most precious of your goals.