What do you do when your homeschooler hits the end of first grade and can’t read, then the end of 2nd grade and still can’t read, then the end of third and fourth and fifth? What do you do when your 11 or 12 year old still can’t read? For many homeschool parents, a struggling reader makes them feel like failures. And the kids feel even worse.

When families are already dealing with outside pressure from extended family, friends, and people in their communities who don’t agree with their choice to homeschool, a struggling reader can seem like evidence that all the critics are right, and they should not be homeschooling.

“What the Lord does with our children is not defined by where they are at ten.”

-- Melanie Young

Hal and Melanie Young are the award-winning authors of Raising Real Men, No Longer Little, and the Amazon bestseller Love, Honor, and Virtue. They are publishers, writers, bloggers, and popular conference speakers internationally, known for their Christ-centered focus and practical, real-life stories. They are the parents of six real boys (five grown!) and two real girls and live in noisy, messy happiness in North Carolina.

In this episode of From Cradle to Calling podcast, Hal and Melanie talk about their own experience with a struggling reader. They tell their story with raw transparency that will touch the hearts of any family facing a similar struggle, but they also inspire great hope with practical advice for how to help a child who is struggling to read and might even have a diagnosis associated with the problem.

If you have a struggling reader in your homeschool, you will be deeply encouraged when you hear how Hal and Melanie not only survived their child’s dyslexia, but how their son also THRIVED! Tune in and find out the amazing things that God is doing in and through their son, who was diagnosed with dyslexia.

In this episode, Melanie references the book The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald D. Davis. She also talks about Dianne Craft, and the resources available through her “right brain” learning system. Dianne Craft has tools available to help struggling learners with problems including Autism, Aspergers, ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dsycalculia, Dysparzia, Sensory Processing and Auditory Processing Disorders.

“Something parents need to internalize and they need to explain to their kids is, ‘You have a diagnosis of a particular problem. YOU are not a problem. Your whole identity is not wrapped up in it.’”

--Hal Young

As you tune in, you’ll get to hear our super cool theme music. All of the music on the C2C Podcast was written, performed and produced by Jenni’s daughter Sky. Be sure to visit her on Instagram.

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