Category Archives: teaching

2022 Edition of ALPHA-PHONICS — NEW INFO ON DYSLEXIA

Posted on August 20, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

I have been teaching reading for over 40 years, and it is only in my recent history that I have heard about children with dyslexia diagnoses. And I hear of them at an alarming rate! I responded by taking on … Continue reading →

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Illuminating the Brain and Watching it Read

Posted on August 9, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

Up to the year 1870 there was no physiology of the [brain] hemispheres. They seemed to be out of reach of the physiologist. In that year the common physiological methods of stimulation and extirpation were first applied to them. Ivan … Continue reading →

Posted in Brain science and reading, dyslexia, education, fMRI and reading, homeschooling, Ivan Pavlov, Pavlov's Dog, Phonics, Reading, Stanislaus Dehaene, teaching, tutoring | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Bringing up girls: Biology and behavior

Posted on July 25, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

Gender differences, pt. 2 (girls) DR MICHAEL NAGEL   Whether you have a boy or a girl you may have wondered what science can tell you about the role of the brain in shaping your child’s behaviour. In this two-part … Continue reading →

Posted in education, father daughter relationships, homeschooling, Phonics, raising girls, Reading, teaching, teaching girls, tutoring | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why boys wrestle, play fight and fidget

Posted on July 25, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

Gender differences, pt. 1 (boys) DR MICHAEL NAGEL Whether you have a boy or a girl you may have wondered what science can tell you about the role of the brain in shaping your child’s behaviour. In this two-part series … Continue reading →

Posted in activities for boys, boys are fidgety, boys are made differently from girls, child development boys vs girls, education, fathers and sons, homeschooling, How boys learn, Let boys be boys, male differences, male's amygdala larger than female's, Phonics, playful aggression, Reading, rough and tumble, schools, teaching, teaching boys vs girls, testosterone in boys development, the male brain, tutoring | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: How to Tutor Reading, Writing & Arithmetic (by Samuel Blumenfeld)

Posted on July 15, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

“It is not necessary to have had formal teaching experience to become a tutor. If you have enjoyed reading to children and answering their questions, then you should enjoy tutoring. With the proper instructional materials, anyone who enjoys children can … Continue reading →

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Phonics Saves a Struggling Reader — She’s now a Global Change Agent

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

“Unfortunately, I not only know about the reading problem in our schools, but I am well aware of how it feels to be labeled a reading failure. Feeling is a lot more acute than just knowing.” Mary didn’t start out … Continue reading →

Posted in Dyslexic No More, education, homeschooling, Intensive Phonics, Jane & Sally, Mary Burkhardt, Phonics, Reading, teaching, teaching phonics, tutoring | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Multiculturalism & the Loss of Americanism

Posted on July 7, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

Exploring the Homeschooling Arguments of the 80’s & 90’s – Reviewing old Editorials in the Light of our Present Day The Blumenfeld Education Letter Revisited Vol 1, No 1 (pt. 1) – Sept. 1986 (NOTE: The following editorial has been quoted … Continue reading →

Posted in Americanism, education, education reform, God Bless America, homeschooling, Multicultural Education, multiculturalism, Phonics, Reading, teaching, Teaching Moral Anarchy, The Blumenfeld Education Letter, tutoring | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How to SUCCEED – or FAIL – at Teaching Reading

Posted on July 1, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

I found an old self-printed book which has some very useful information about teaching reading and I think some of the ideas presented there are worth sharing. The book (How the Alphabet Works: a handbook for teaching someone to read … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian education, classical education, Functional Illiteracy, grandmother teacher, Home Schooling – Why Do It?, homeschooling, How not to teach reading, How to teach reading, Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Reading, teaching, tutoring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Stigma of Dyslexia

Posted on May 16, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

Sometime, somewhere, within the history of American education, it was decided that it was not good to write with the left hand. Writing this way was often punished. I learned of just such an example, in the most unusual of … Continue reading →

Posted in Dr. Neil Alexander-Passe, education, homeschooling, left-handed punishment, Phonics, Reading, Stigma of Dyslexia, teaching, tutoring | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Miss Cora & the Kentucky Mountain People

Posted on May 11, 2022 by Meg Rayborn Dawson

The Kentucky Girl (commencement speech on graduating from teacher’s college)  While other girls were posing, their charms being exhibited, their characteristics discussed. There has lived and walked, among the evergreen pines and the sturdy oaks, of the mountains of Kentucky, a creature … Continue reading →

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