The Jelly Bean Revelation

Kate and Adam both attended Challenger School for preschool and I was very impressed with all the things they learned. They were both reading before they started Kindergarten. I wanted the same experience for Mason, but when time came to sign up for preschool it just wasn't in the budget. I hoped that my efforts to teach him at home would be sufficient.  They weren't.

At the start of 2012 Mason knew about four letters and he could (almost) count to eight. We had a letter chart. We had a workbook. We checked out letter books for the library and Mason played on Starfall. We had an online preschool for ideas (that lasted for a few weeks). I encouraged him to watch Letter Factory. But when it came to learning - Mason was NOT interested.

When we moved I had a friend recommend a local neighborhood preschool. I called the teacher and she had one opening available - Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Mason was excited about going to school and quickly adapted to his new schedule.

First Day of Preschool

By his second week he had passed off letters A-C.  His next assignment was D-F. The notes from the teacher after each class encouraged him to practice every day. I was working with him, quizzing him with the six flashcards, but it wasn't going well. "Mason, what letter is this?" "I don't know." "It's the letter C. What letter is this?" "I don't know...S?" After almost a month the note from his teacher read, "Let's try to just learn A - work on just that one."

I didn't know what to do to help him. I finally fell to my knees. I don't remember if it was a dream or an impression, but I was told what to do. I saw myself sitting in the family room with a bowl of candy in my lap. There were letters strewn all over the room. I would ask Mason to bring me a specific letter. When he produced the correct one I gave him a candy.

The next day I bought a jar of Jelly Bellies and I made a page on the computer that had the letters A-F. I showed Mason his letter A flashcard and we recited "A, ah, ah, apple." I put the jelly beans in front of him and asked him to place one candy on each A. At first he wanted to put a jelly bean on every letter, hoping that meant he would get more to eat. I told him he would only get the candies that were on the correct letters. It only took a few minutes for him to find them all.

Next to  claim each sugary prize he had to identify the letter as "Big A" or "Little A" and say the sound - "Ah." Needless to say, the prospect of 15 jelly beans was a big motivator. He did the whole page several times and had the letter A down by the end of the day.

Over the next week we continued this process through the letter F. By then Mason was ready for something different so we started putting jelly beans on the flashcards. Each time he identified a letter correctly he got to eat the jelly bean.

Well, thanks to Mrs. Balls and some divine jelly bean inspiration, Mason graduated for preschool on May 24th knowing all the letters of the alphabet and counting all the way to 69!

 

Way to go Mason!