Fiftieth Passage

G is for Gee-briel.

Since we started school I have been struggling to teach Owen his letters. 4 months of practicing them 4 days a week.  And it has been frustratingly slow! He seems to have a hard time caring, which makes him not put forth any effort at all, I think. He's not a stupid kid, by any means, so this inability to remember a letter has been very trying. For me. Like I said, he doesn't seem to care. :)
At the begininning of the school year, it went something like this.
Me: A. This is A. Say A.
Owen. A.
Me: Good. This is B. Say B.
Owen: B.
Me: Good. And what is this one? (pointing back at the A.)
Owen: I don't know.
Me: A. It's A. Say A.
Owen: A.
Me: And this is B.
Owen: B.
Me: This is C. Say C.
Owen: C.
Me: What's this other one?
Owen: I don't know.
Me: A. Remember that, because I'm going to ask you again. A.
Owen: A.
Me: And this one?
Owen: I don't know.
Me: B.
Owen: B.
Me: And the first one?
Owen: B.
Me: No! No, this is A. This other one is B.

And so on. But 4 months later he almost can recognize all the letters. G has been a problem though. It seems he put a mental block up with that letter. No matter how many times we practiced it, no matter how many lines he wrote of G, no matter how many associations I made, Owen couldn't remember G for more than two seconds.
I told him G is for Gabriel. That's his middle name, so I thought that would help. It didn't. I told him G was for gross. He remembered U every time after his little book told him U was for underwear. He still says that sometimes, and cracks up laughing. He also cracked up laughing when I told him G was for gross, but he couldn't remember what G was.
Yesterday I started calling him Gee-briel. I told him I would call him Gee-briel until he could remember G. He wasn't very pleased with that at all. But I did it anyway. And today, when we were going through the flashcards, he remembered G! He got it right the first time through! YAYAYAY!
I hope it's forever. A month ago Owen had the letter H down. Now he only gets it right 25% of the time. *sigh*.
I still have to teach him the sounds of all the letters. Maybe by the end of the school year he will have learned nothing more than the alphabet, but I'm telling you, it will be a major accomplishment! Especially if I'm not in an asylum by then.