“Mom, can I sit next to you and work on my story?”

Sure kiddo!

Enjoying the warmth of his shoulder resting upon mine as he typed away at the computer, I glance at his screen and almost spit out my drink.

My son is dyslexic.

Not a big deal for a 25- year confident homeschooling mom like me.

We see dyslexia as a gift.

Related: Kids love learning about great dyslexics like our son Stephen, Albert Einstein, Walk Disney, Leonardo DaVinci, and so many others.

What are the typical signs of dyslexia?

Depending on the age, dyslexia can be spotted through a variety of signs.

Because he didn’t read until he turned 10, his spelling is atrocious.

• Difficulty recognizing the spelling of a word- check!
• The student quickly forgets how to spell the words he reads- check!
• Makes a lot of spelling errors-check!

Is your child behind?

Imagine my surprise when I glanced over my shoulder and read…

William stood there holding wood for a campfire while watching his home burning to the ground, too stunned to do anything. Screaming came from the house, his mothers and baby sister.

William dropped the wood and ran towards the house just as the image went black.

“Will, Will! Wake up”

William jolted awake

“Your turn for guard duty. This time you’re on the wall today, ”Said, Cornelius, his bunkmate.

“K.” William jumped out of bed and quickly got in his armor. He didn’t want to get lashes again for being late.

I kept reading. Mesmerized by the story that unfolded before my eyes.

WHEN DID HE LEARN TO SPELL?

I spied on Stephen as he wrote. He flipped back and forth between a few tabs on his computer.

What a brilliant little stinker.

I’ve watched Stephen work on his story many times since then. He opens the same four windows every single time.

Apparently, he’d been paying attention.

A CORE lesson in our homeschool has been: There are only two kinds of information.

• Stuff you know off the top of your head, like your phone number
• Things you need to learn

The key is knowing where to look for the second kind of information.

Once you know WHERE to look, a whole world of learning opens up for you.

I never taught Stephen to open multiple tabs on his computer to help him overcome his spelling and grammar. Dyslexia taught him that!

Instead, we taught him to problem solve.

WOW!

4 Tools for Overcoming Poor Spelling and Grammar

All from the problem solving dyslexic mind of 13-year old

1. Grammarly

“Grammarly makes sure everything you type is clear, effective, and mistake-free.”

My blogging coach introduced me to Grammarly about 2 years ago. This powerful little tool is like my own personal editor and has saved me from more than one terrible typo.

I  remember my husband suggesting that I sign our son up, so it can help his spelling. It helps more than a little!

When I asked him about Grammarly, Stephen replied, “It’s awesome.”

So much for creative speech. He was saving the “bigger thoughts” for his manuscript.

Homeschool Hack: Grammarly is free. This is one of those “no-brainer” add-ons for your devices.

2. Thesaurus

This should have been an obvious suggestion, but again, Stephen found it on his own.

As he writes he keeps Thesaurus.com open and flips back and forth as he’s writing.

• Big becomes gargantuan
• Invisible transforms into Unseeable
• dyslexic becomes gifted

3.Google Drive

Google drive is where we do all our writing and storing of files. Stephen LOVES that it auto-saves his work and then tucks it away in Google’s cloud.

I love that it’s free.

4. Google Search Window for Vocabulary

Again, I’m dumbfounded by his brilliance.

As he is writing his story, he keeps a web browser open to help him find the appropriate vocabulary. Today, this forth tab was open to Titles of Medieval Nobility.

I can’t tell you that your child will overcome their spelling challenges simply by installing Grammarly on their devices. But it will help.

Remember: In homeschool, the only behind is the one your child is sitting on!

Helping your dyslexic child fall in love with reading

1. Read Aloud. Many parents believe the lie that if their child isn’t staring at the page and sounding out words they aren’t reading. FALSE. The beauty of the read aloud is language and sentence struct marinate your child’s heart, imagination, and creative muscles. Yes! Audio books count as reading!

2. Dyslexia Apps.

3. ENCOURAGE. There is nothing wrong with your child and they need to hear that from you and every influential adult in their lives. Where most people see the world through a single small lens, someone with dyslexia sees with a wide-angle lens. Their brains are hard wired to do amazingly challenging things that most of us can’t do. But they need extra time to hone their skills. Let’s give them the time!

Print this free homeschool mom reminder.

This post comes with a free printable reminder list to help keep your heart focused on the heart of homeschooling. I always have the hardest staying focused. This printable simplifies it!

Here is a sneak preview…

Download Your Free Printable

1. Download the checklist. You’ll get the printable, plus join 9,000+ homeschool moms who receive my weekly parenting tips and ideas!
2. Print. Any paper will do the trick, but card stock would be ideal.
3. Place it on your refrigerator as a helpful reminder.