The Power of Small Wins

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Hey there, friends! After taking a short break to recover from surgery, I’m back with a quick but powerful episode all about the magic of small wins. Whether it’s learning to read, homeschooling, or mastering any new skill, progress isn’t about big leaps—it’s about stacking tiny victories over time.

I’ll share real-life stories from my students, like how one simple fluency strategy is helping Cyrus become a more confident reader and how Josiah is breaking through his mental block—one paragraph at a time. Plus, I’ll give you two easy ways to encourage progress at home so you can help your child feel successful in their learning journey.

Sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs start with the smallest steps. Let’s talk about why those little moments matter more than you think!

🎧 Listen now and be encouraged to celebrate every step forward!

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe and share this episode with a fellow homeschool parent or educator who needs a reminder that progress—no matter how small—is still progress!

Thank you for listening to Dyslexia Decoded! Remember, every journey begins with a single step, and progress always beats perfection.

Subscribe so you never miss an episode, and if you found this story inspiring, please share it with someone who might need to hear it.

Until next time, stay strong, stay curious, and stay fearless. 💚

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey there, and welcome back toDyslexia Decoded with Teacher
Maggie.
If you're a regular listener,you may have noticed I missed
last week's episode.
I had surgery and was in fullrecovery mode.
resting is not exactly my strongsuit.
I am a very busy do do do kindof person.
So resting and healing drove mecrazy, but I'm on the mend and

(00:25):
excited to be back Since I'mkeeping things light this week,
I thought this would be theperfect time to talk about the
power in small wins.
This could be in learning andhomeschooling and honestly in
life, because whether it'shealing from surgery, learning
to read or mastering a newskill, slow and steady progress

(00:47):
is what actually moves usforward.
So let's dive in.
I see it.
all the time with my students.
Those tiny victories that mightnot seem like much in the
moment, but over time they addup to something huge.
I have one little boy forexample, he's just started with

(01:08):
me a few weeks ago, but he'sdoing an amazing job with
decoding.
And so we've shifting our goalto building fluency.
and you probably worked with.
Emerging readers, they get stuckin that, you know, and wanting
to sound out every single word.
Like you tell them to sound outwords and now they're stuck on

(01:29):
that.
You might relate to that.
So what I do to help bridge thegap there and get to more fluent
reading is have the student readsilently inside their head
first.
And then once they think they'vegot it, then they can read the
whole sentence out loud.
So today we were doing that.
We were playing a game.
And when it was his turn, hewould read the sentence in his

(01:51):
head and then he would read itout loud with fluency he's
really coming along with this.
It really feels like a smallstep, but it is already making a
difference.
I have another little boy I'vebeen working with for quite some
time.
We're using the Learn Readingprogram.
he is on Lesson 12, so he'sgetting in some more complex
phonics and doing amazing.

(02:11):
if you don't know about LearnReading, we start doing, full
page passages at that point.
looking at a whole page of textcan feel really overwhelming for
a lot of students.
So this little boy, last weekwe're like, well, how about we
just read the first paragraph,which is, four short sentences
and that he could do.
He could get his mind aroundreading one paragraph, but

(02:34):
looking at the whole page, wasquite terrifying.
this week, we were really eagerto move past the first
paragraph, but he had got stuckin his head that I only have to
do one paragraph and he justcouldn't get past.
But the win that we wanted tocelebrate and the proof that he
was growing is that he read thatfirst paragraph like it was the

(02:56):
easiest thing he's ever read.
So his fluency, his confidence,he really did great on that
paragraph.
And even if we don't, finish thetask every time, we want to look
and find the ways that we cancelebrate our learners who are
really working on the thingsthat are, the hardest for them,
right?
I always tell parents that ifyou had to do your least
favorite thing all day, everyday, life would be very

(03:19):
frustrating.
I want to balance.
having to work on the things wehave to work on with, also
working on things we enjoy andways we feel successful.
learning isn't about giantleaps.
It's about stacking smallvictories.
A child doesn't go fromstruggling with reading to

(03:40):
fluently reading chapter booksovernight.
It happens one word, onesentence, and one story at a
time, and every bit is progress.
So what does this mean to you?
If you're a parent, a teacher,or a tutor, here's a reminder to
celebrate those small wins.

(04:01):
Here are two simple ways toencourage progress.
First, I recommend allowing yourstudents, your child, to re read
familiar books.
Sometimes we think progressmeans constantly moving to
harder text, but re reading abook they already know?
Builds confidence and fluencyand, God forbid, a love of

(04:22):
reading.
So if your child wants to readGreen Eggs and Ham for the 10th
time, Let them.
They can read it to a stuffedanimal, a sibling, to a chicken.
As long as they're reading andthey're wanting to read, let
them read the books over andover again.
my next tip is to praise theeffort, not just results.
Don't wait for them to get theword perfect to praise them.

(04:44):
Or don't wait for them to readthe full book and be like, wow,
you just read a whole book.
make sure we're finding thespots in between in order to
praise them.
instead of like, wow, you readthat perfectly.
Try, I love how you've soundedthat word out.
Or I see you trying even whenit's hard.
That.
Is inspiring.

(05:06):
This can build resilience and agrowth mindset.
So that is all for today's miniepisode.
I know it was short.
but I am back and it feels goodto be back.
And just knowing that I'mstaying consistent and that was
my whole plan.
Just be consistent.
so thank you for your patiencewhile I recovered and I

(05:29):
appreciate you all so much.
Next week, I really would liketo dive into being diagnosed
with dyslexia or ADHD or alearning difference and really
the value of that.
and putting the effort intogetting diagnosed.
in the meantime, I'd love tohear about your child's small
wins.
Send me a message or comment onsocial media.

(05:53):
Until next time, keepcelebrating progress one step at
a time.