Finley reading braille

Tonight I will share some of Finley's homework. She didn't want me to video tape her.  She hates being on camera, being in the spotlight.  But I told her she could take some videos of her own when we were done, and that won her over.

Finley has nightly braille homework on top of her other work.  Granted (and thank goodness) 1st grade homework is very light.  But her braille homework is not.  As her TVI has said, "this is the year of braille" and she is determined to get Finley proficient.  And I have to say that she is doing a really great job.

So, with that kind of intense learning comes homework.  We did her weekend homework this afternoon when she was fresh.  She did a great job, but she got a little goofy on the first video.  She has a song stuck in her head, so you will see her be bopping around.  I think it is kind of amazing that she can sing like that and still do what she needs to do.

The first video, she has a page of braille.  There are tons of words on the page, but she only has to find the words that end in the letter "d".  "D" has been her nemesis.  It is very similar to another braille letter, and just like you can have reversal issues in print (such as b and d), you can have the same problem in braille (in this case d and h).  Her braille teacher has halted basically everything else in the last few weeks to work out this problem so that they can move on with trickier stuff, and it has paid off.  Finley hasn't made a mistake in over a week, and you can see how proud she is.

Oh, and the paper I am using to block her in the video?  It is called her "Finley's No Peaking"  because she still has quite a bit of sight, she could easily cheat, so we have to cover what she is working on.

Video one:  Find the "D"s:

Okay - do you see what she is doing with her hands?  So - she reads the braille with her right hand, and her left hand is the guide.  Kind of helps her stay in line.  When she gets to the end of the line, she slides both hands back across the SAME line, and then lowers to the next line.  That way she doesn't loose her place.  As she gets older and proficient in braille, this last part will change and only the left hand will go to the next line.

This next one is of Finley reading her spelling words.  Each week Finley is assigned spelling words in print and in braille.  Their homework is Wednesday through Tuesday, so that is why we have spelling words to work on over the weekend.  As we get closer to the end of the list, those are the words she just put her hands on today, so she has a bit more trouble.  She knows all the letters, but it is harder when they are close together and have to form words.

Here is the spelling:

I hope you enjoyed the videos!