Phonics » The Curriculum Choice

K5 Learning

Elementary, Language Arts, Logic, Mathematics, Online, Phonics, Reading, Spelling, Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Jan 182012

To be honest, when I was approached about writing a review for K5 Learning, I was going to pass. We just haven’t liked any online sites that we have tried. I decided it was only fair to give it a quick look before saying no, and my five-year-old was immediately drawn into the site. I responded to the request with a yes.

We started with the recommended learning assessment, to see where my son scored on grade level, so the program could correctly place him to start the program. The assessment has a variety of levels given within it. Some answers will be too easy, others too hard. This is the only way the program can know where your child is in his learning. However, I wish there was a button for parents to choose “does not apply”, as my son correctly answered some questions he had no clue about, just by chance. Once the assessment is over, the parent can log in to see where your child was placed. Evan scored 1st grade, and he is in Kindergarten. (I thought he was reading above K!) After the program knows where your child’s skill level is, you are ready to learn.

The layout is attractive and inviting. Evan has really enjoyed learning his lessons with this program. I wanted to share with you a few examples of the curriculum in action, to give a better idea of what a lesson looks like.

The pros:

These lessons aren’t full of games and a little education, your child will really learn:

phonetic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary and reading comprehension.
numbers and operations, geometry, measurement (including time and money), algebraic thinking and data analysis.
basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. (with monitored progress for mastery)
spelling-you can even assign your own word lists.

Other positives:

works for special needs learners.
parents have access to learning reports to track progress.
the lessons adjust to your child’s individual learning automatically.

{my favorite part of the lesson}

Each lesson also has a preview of sorts that explains what you are about to learn and how to answer. I really like that about the program.

{this math lesson was challenging, but enjoyable}

{we apparently needed this, as Evan asked if dragons were real!}

The con:

This online curriculum has some great positives and I am glad we were invited to try it. I do have one negative to give, however:

When we went to work on the math facts for mastery, we found they are timed drills. Drills makes sense for older children – but Evan is five, with little keyboard skills. He never could get fast enough to pass, even though he answered all of the questions correctly.

As you can see, 0 were answered quickly enough, but all were correct. It had nothing to do with knowing the facts. I do wish the curriculum had thought of smaller children with little hands and no knowledge of why the numbers don’t go in order on mommy’s computer pad. Evan couldn’t understand why he didn’t pass when he knew all of the answers.

The rest of this site is great, so we will likely just be skipping this section unless that aspect is changed. Overall, it is a great program with true learning as the star. It is just fun enough to keep Evan from feeling overwhelmed, but this isn’t busy work. I would definitely recommend this if you have any interest in computer learning.

Purchase info:

After the trial ends, the monthly subscription for one child is $25 or you can purchase one year for one child for $199. K5 Learning has a free 14 day trial that doesn’t require your credit card to begin. (I love that.)
I would recommend giving the free 14 day trial a try. Evan has really enjoyed this in the few weeks he has been using it. If we had the extra $25 in our budget, I would continue on when our subscription expires. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy K5 Learning this much. It has been a great addition to our day.

Sam's Noggin

**I was given a 3 month subscription in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Pin It

Explode the Code

Elementary, Language Arts, Online, Phonics, Preschool 1 Response »

Dec 072011

Explode the Code is a phonics based program I consider invaluable in helping my daughter learn to read!

The series starts with three Primers, all introducing the child to the consonants sounds and written letters. Then the series moves on to the vowels and basic phonics patterns in Book 1 and Book 2. The best thing was that my daughter loved doing it! First thing in the morning, she would ask for her Explode the Code book.

This program did not require any prep on my part. All I needed to do was read any new letter sounds out loud, or read her “listening sentences” for her to write down. And of course, celebrate the learning!

We started with the Primers in kindergarten. Some families choose to do these in the preschool years. The primer workbooks are entitled Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code. These books, full of child drawn illustrations, really caught my daughter’s eyes. Meanwhile, she was learning all the lower case letters and sounds.

The primers prepared her for the first official book in the series, Explode the Code, Book 1. Each lesson followed the same format with the fun child illustrations. My daughter quickly became independent in her work. Through reading, spelling, writing and copying, she prepared herself for early readers. She was so proud of herself.

Explode the Code then goes on to Book 2. (There are also additional workbooks labeled 1/2, such as Book 1 & ½ for extra practice). Following the same consistent pattern, the series progressed to more advanced phonics, such as consonant blends and phonetic patterns, preparing the child for intermediate reading. The consistent format and layout of the lessons helped make the learning easy.

As we continued in the series, with Book 3, Book 4, etc, my daughter strengthened her phonics skills and her reading. These more advanced books included breaking words into syllables, diagraphs, three letter blends, diphthongs, etc. These concepts were all laid out in an easily understandable manner and could still be done independently.

The Explode the Code offers a series through Book 8. We chose to work through Book 5, which, in my opinion, gave my daughter a solid foundation in phonics. She also became a good speller. I would highly recommend Explode the Code for any family looking for a well thought out and FUN phonics program.

Where to find Explode the Code: For more information, please visit Explode the Code online or view the entire line of workbooks here.

~Written by Betsy, an experienced homeschooler who likes waldorf-inspired approaches and uses unit studies in her homeschool.

Primary Arts of Language: Writing

Elementary, Handwriting, Phonics, Spelling, Writing No Responses »

Nov 302011

This review is Part 2. If you haven’t already read my review of Primary Arts of Language: Reading, please do so before continuing with this post.

Primary Arts of Language: Writing by Jill Pike of Excellence in Writing is the companion program to Primary Arts of Language: Reading. While the reading program focuses on early phonics and reading skills, the writing program focuses on printing, beginning story writing, copy work and spelling. Using the two programs combined gives you a complete and thorough language arts curriculum for the K-2nd grade student.

Primary Arts of Language: Writing is divided into three parts.

Part 1 introduces your child to printing using correct letter formation and story summaries. Handwriting is taught in a variety of ways, most importantly through modeling by the parent. (A DVD-ROM comes with the program which teaches you precisely how to teach your child.) Letter stories are introduced to your child at the same time they are learning to write the letters to reinforce sounds the letters make. After handwriting practice, your child gets to listen to simple stories and learn the fundamentals of comprehension through sequencing, and understanding characters, settings, plots and more.

Part 2 builds on handwriting fundamentals through copy work and begins spelling lessons using the very popular All About Spelling , Level 1. (You can read my previous review of All About Spelling here or read Lynn’s review here.) During copy work times, you will also discuss such things as punctuation and capitals.

Part 3 assumes that handwriting is now automatic, spelling is going well and story charting (characters, setting, etc.) is no problem. If this is the case, your child will move into beginning composition. These 16 final lessons are meant to ease your child into the basic units of the Institute for Excellence in Writing’s Teaching Writing: Structure and Style methods. Your child will learn to take notes, summarize from the notes, create a story sequence and write creative stories.

You can certainly choose to move more slowly than the material suggests! I am using Primary Arts of Language: Reading with my K4 at a slow pace. My little guy is only ready for some of the handwriting lessons, so that’s all I plan to complete this year. I’ll probably wait to use the remaining parts of the book until first grade, because I know he won’t be ready for copy work and composition until at least then.

Besides the daily lesson plans, the teacher’s guide also includes a scope and sequence of writing skills covered, several printable posters, charts and templates, and additional tips for teaching writing. You also receive a DVD-ROM with video instruction on how to teach the lessons, audio seminars from writing teachers and the all-important printable student pages.

Just as the reading program, Primary Arts of Language: Writing is a fantastic program! The only warning I might give…the reading and writing programs are meant to be used together. My feeling is that the reading program can be started much earlier than the writing program. I would be very weary about starting the writing program with a child younger than 1st grade, while the reading program can easily be started as early as K4.

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of a high schooler, middle schooler and K4. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers studies and other creative curricula at Shining Dawn Books.

Primary Arts of Language: Reading

Elementary, Language Arts, Phonics, Preschool, Reading 1 Response »

Sep 142011

Wow. What a curriculum! Primary Arts of Language: Reading by Jill Pike of Excellence in Writing has put together a fantastic set of materials for teaching reading to your little one.

Using the “blended sound-sight” method of phonics skills and sight words-based education with a playful, game-like approach, children are intended to have fun and progress rapidly at the same time.

There are four stages to the program:

Foundations – Phonics rules and sight words are introduced through games and manipulatives. This stage is very parent-led with mom or dad teaching how to play the games, use the manipulatives and use time wisely. Later in the program, your child will become a more independent learner through the intensive training you offer during this stage.
Activity Time – This stage continues in adding new phonics rules and sight words to your child’s “arsenal”, but also expects independent and partner time to practice the games and manipulatives previously learned.
Discovery – This stage comes after your child has a good grasp of phonetic decoding skills. Your child is given small stacks of word cards daily and asked to independently work on decoding (reading) the words. Once decoded, he comes to you to read them aloud.
The Library – In this final stage, you simply provide appropriate books from a list of easy, medium and hard books for your child to read. He is expected to read the book aloud with you and again on his own at first, until progressing to simply reading on his own or aloud to siblings.

As all of the stages are progressing, there is a general theme of daily activities followed: poetry, journal, phonics and printing/composition. A poem becomes the “centerpiece” of each lesson with the same poem being used for several days. During this time your child will develop rich language, comprehension strategies, memorization skills and begin to internalize writing techniques. Phonics skills are taught and practiced in a variety of ways:

The Phonetic Farm is a full-color folder picturing a farm in which your child adds sticker characters to help remember and organize all the phonics rules he’ll learn throughout the program. (It’s super-cute and lots of fun adding the stickers to the folder!)
Phonics Games of all sorts are provided for lessons and independent practice of phonics rules. You’ll find the games printed in the back of the teacher’s manual for your to cut, color and paste. So that putting together all the games isn’t overwhelming, you’re encouraged to create the games with your child as each is introduced.
The Sight Word Card Game is created by you on index cards and used in various ways suggested through the lessons to increase your child’s sight word recognition.

The author has also written The Primary Arts of Language: Writing (which I’ll review at another time for you) that should be used concurrently with this curriculum if your child is old enough to learn to print – around five. She suggests that you use the two programs concurrently even if your child is a little younger, limiting the handwriting expected if necessary. The journal and printing/composition portions of daily lessons come from the writing curriculum.

You are provided with a Teacher’s Manual that includes very clear and concise daily lessons plans for 80 lessons. It also includes appendixes of a scope and sequence chart, phonogram chart, poems used in the lessons, alphabetical list of words used in readers, homophones list, chart of words in each discovery card pack, and a list of readers to check out or purchase. The discovery cards are also printed on green card stock in the back of the book for you to cut apart.

A book of Phonetic Games provides you with “game boards” printed on regular paper that you cut, color and paste into folders. Game pieces for each game are printed on card stock. Again, you must cut and color the pieces, then decide how you will affix the pieces to the game board for use over and over again. (A baggie or envelope attached to the back of the folders works well.) You make the games as they are introduced in the lessons, so the construction isn’t overwhelming, and in the end you have an arsenal of phonetic games that your child will be expected to practice throughout the program.

The curriculum set also comes with a DVD-ROM including the author walking you through the program step-by-step as well as many extras like MP3 seminars. But, the best part is two full PDF books of 200+ student worksheets to supplement the daily lessons, as well as four printable early readers.

I tell ya, even with the extra bit of effort it takes to put together the games and print off the student pages from the DVD-ROM, this curriculum is worth it! My little guy is in K4 (will be five in a few months) and is responding well so far. We’re taking it slower than her suggested schedule but he’s doing great and loving the games!

Watch for my review of the companion writing program soon!

-Cindy West is an eclectically Charlotte Mason mom of three kids in high school, middle school and K4. You can find her blogging at Our Journey Westward and find her NaturExplorers and other creative curriculum at Shining Dawn Books.

(Cindy was given a free copy of this curriculum for review upon her request. As always, she shares only her honest opinion.)

My Father’s World: 1st grade

Art, Bible, Charlotte Mason, Classical, Elementary, Geography, Grammar, Hands On, Language Arts, Living books, Music, Nature Study, Phonics, Reading, Science, Spelling, Unit study resources 3 Responses »

Aug 222011

What immediately drew me to My Father’s World is that the curriculum is the fact that it is fairly stand alone. You purchase either the basic set or their deluxe set, and you are ready to go! I adore this as our little library in this rural community really doesn’t have the variety or selection of books that we were used to in San Diego. This means filling in blanks or filling out a curriculum is a challenge now so a curriculum with most of the absolutely necessary books included was a huge plus to us.

However, like the true bibliophiles that we are, I wanted the option of having more, should we be able to find them. True to the Charlotte Mason element, the curriculum is surrounded by the “living books” concept so the usage of books is completely up to you. I love that they include this in every year.

About My Father’s World

My Father’s World isn’t just a Charlotte Mason style offering but rather a unique fusion of sorts, merging both “the best of Charlotte Mason, classical education, and unit studies with a Biblical worldview and international focus.”

My Father’s World offers grades K-2nd grade as a more independent, semi-stand alone element and then moves into a family 5 year cycle that works around a central theme. The 5 year cycle is specifically geared for multiple ages, for grades 2nd-8th so there is savings to be found as families with more than one child use the same program to teach all children in 2nd – 8th grade.

Year One	Geography: Exploring Countries and Cultures
Year Two	History: Creation to the Greeks
Year Three	History: Rome to the Reformation
Year Four	U.S./World History: Exploration to 1850
Year Five	U.S./World History: 1850 to Modern Times

They also offer a bridge year called Adventures in My Father’s World, which is geared for families 2nd or 3rd graders who have no siblings in 4th – 8th grade.(We will be doing this program next year as I have a 4year old and a 7 year old.)

Our Adventure

Currently we are working our way though My Father’s World, 1st grade. I adore this program as it is laid out in an easy to follow, daily workbook fashion. It’s easy for me to combine the integrated social studies, science, art and Bible elements with both kids, while focusing independently on the phonics and math. My boys love that they are learning together, doing the same things, despite their age and grade differences.

The curriculum does include a 1st grade phonics-based reading program that focuses on the Bible and more fun, hands-on math activities. We include our own K4 phonics and and additional math program (Math U See) for both boys as I found their math not as intensive as I think it needs to be for the grade.

One major element we always seemed to miss with our previous years curriculum was the arts; we simply didn’t always make time for them.

With My Father’s World, art, music, crafts,hands-on learning is a major part of the curriculum. Everything is planned out and outlined for you to see the day before so you can prep easily, using common household items most of the time. My boys have enjoyed this more consistent addition to our learning and I have found they have better attitudes and have better lesson retention.

The only cons that I have experience thus far is that the 1st grade teachers book is only formatted with a daily lesson plan. It lacks the easy, one glace, weekly grid that their latter versions offer. I also felt the math that is included is a bit weak for the age group so we needed to supplement an additional math program. Ultimately, minor things that we easily rectified.

For a full curriculum, It’s fairly affordable, especially when you compare it to larger, more known companies. For the 1st grade curriculum, you can elect to get their basic package for only $136.oo or their deluxe package for $239.00. As the years grow in complexity, so does the number of books included which will contribute to a steady raise in the overall costs. However, remaining competitive and within reach for most families.

Overall, My Father’s World, or MFW, has been a blessing to our household. It’s affordable, fun, engaging and the children really do learn.

The Ordinary Parent’s Guide To Teaching Reading

Phonics, Reading 4 Responses »

Aug 172011

This school year I am teaching my 5 year old, Evan, to read. In my short two years as a homeschooler, I had somehow collected about 8 books to teach reading, as well as a huge boxed reading curriculum. We went through the most widely recommended curriculum with Emma, now 7, and she hated them all.

Since we had such a difficult time with Emma, I wanted to try to avoid that with Evan. I went through all of my options and really looked at how each curriculum chose to teach a child to read. I then narrowed my choices down to three and went through them all, going through the lessons as if I were teaching Evan from them in that moment.

I quickly chose to go with The Ordinary Parent’s Guide To Teaching Reading, written by Jessie Wise and Sara Buffington.

Although Evan has been watching Leap Frog videos for over a year, and knows that the letters have their sounds, he has really been learning a lot with this curriculum. I see him really “getting it” in a short time. He enjoys sitting down for every lesson, and we often do two at a time.

What a lesson looks like:

Evan and I take out our flashcards and review the sounds learned in previous lessons. I then introduce the newest letter and it’s sound and write it on our little white board. I then let him show me how to form the new letter. (He really enjoys that part.) We then follow the instruction laid out in the lesson and review what we have learned.

What I like about the curriculum:

The different methods for teaching reading are explained. I had tried them all, except explicit phonics, which this curriculum uses.

No distracting pictures that give clues to what is written on the page.

The progression made sense to me.

Constant review of previous sounds in the beginning

Exceptions are addressed later in the curriculum, as to not confuse your child.

The price.

What I would change:

Simplify the pages. I would prefer that there be a separate teacher’s guide, and then a student text with what they need to read. I plan on highlighting each lesson to cause me less confusion in the future.

So far, that is my only negative. We are only 13 lessons in, and we have only been doing the alphabet sounds at this point, but I like it over every other program we used for Emma when I was teaching her to read.

The price for this curriculum is around $20.00 on Amazon. You can also purchase and see a preview of this curriculum on the Peace Hill Press website, as well as read some helpful information from Jessie Wise.

We also purchased, and I highly recommend, the flashcards that are available from Peace Hill Press. I printed mine out on card stock. They are really helpful, saved me the time making my own, and are only $5.95 to download. We also use them to play the memory games suggested at the end of each lesson.

I believe that after a long and expensive search, with The Ordinary Parent’s Guide To Teaching Reading, I have finally found the right curriculum to teach my children to read.

Now if I could only find “the one” for math!

Epi Kardia

Bible, Biblical Principle Approach, Charlotte Mason, Elementary, Hands On, High School, History, Middle School, Phonics, Reading, Science, Unit study resources, Writing 4 Responses »

Jul 152011

Epi Kardia.

In Greek, it means “at the heart.”

To me, this curriculum gets right to the heart of what we want homeschooling to be in our family – a Christ-centered relationship and discipleship between parents and their children.

My Family’s Story

I’m continuously searching for the “best” curriculum for our needs, which are ever-changing. Unfortunately, my small town leaves a lot desired when it comes to curriculum availability. And, because I’m an incredibly visual and hands-on person, it’s hard for me to commit to buying things that I can’t thumb through.

I was recently given the chance to take a sneak peak at the Epi Kardia curriculum by the company. It, along with a few others, had been bookmarked in my “check out later” file – so when the chance came along, I was giddy. No lie.

Epi Kardia is a literature based Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling. What does that mean? Well, Epi Kardia uses the Bible to take your student through history. But, wait. If you think your student is just going to be memorizing passages, you are so wrong. The folks at Epi Kardia have broken down a structured learning plan for each grade. For example, if you choose the first set in the 1st Grade plan, you’re child will be learning about: The Ancients, Middle Ages, Renaissance & Reformation.

With each topic, the Bible along with a variety of other christian and non-christian (but approved by Epi Kardia) books are used to help teach your child more about the subject he or she is supposed to be learning. Because of it’s Charlotte Mason approach, Epi Kardia also includes a lot of copy-work and handwriting exercises. It’s so impressive to see how they’ve really brought a myriad of important subjects (Bible, History/Reading, Science, English/Phonics, Arts) together in a wonderful education plan.

Quick Breakdown

The Pros-

Teaches Bible, History/Reading, Science, English/Phonics, Arts (some programs similar to this one do not teach science)
Included is a book list, complete with ISBN numbers
The plans leave plenty of time for “projects”
Costs about the same as its competitors’ programs ($250 for printed, $200 for CD)
Requires little planning as it’s all done for you!

The Cons-

It’s a Charlotte Mason approach, so if your child doesn’t learn well with this method, it may not be right for them. (Although, if you’ve never tried it, I’d recommend it!)
It didn’t have quite as many projects as I’d like – I’m VERY hands on and project-oriented, as is my oldest. But, this is easily remedied, and an extra project or two can be added to our schedule. However, for those of you who aren’t insane about crafting and projects the way I am, they have the perfect amount. Enough to teach a point without being overbearing for your schedule.
You’re actually going to have to go to the library or amazon.com to get the books. Everything you need is not included in these plans (meaning, you’ll have to buy or borrow books from their book-lists).
The website can be a little confusing (navigation and figuring out which package entails what).

Would I use it?

Yes, yes I would.

Learn More:

To learn more, you can visit their website, check out their scope and sequence, or view a sample.

Written by Ashley. Find more of Ashley’s writings and reflections on motherhood, marriage and life on her blog.

Hooked on Phonics

Phonics No Responses »

May 122011

I’ve never wanted to be that homeschool mom that pushed and pushed her kids so hard that they felt like all she wanted was perfection from them. I decided at the beginning of this school year that I would do some “school” with my 5-year-old, but nothing too intense. I decided our goal for the year would be to learn all our consonant sounds and that would be good.

One of the beauties of homeschooling is that it’s OK if they’re not super brainiacs. There should be no one making comparisons and making a child feel like a failure if they’re not learning things as quickly as someone else. But when my little guy was picking up books and wanted to learn to read, I knew he was ready and that we could push a little more.

I tried two reading programs before I settled on one that worked, and that “one” was Hooked on Phonics. I am so excited about this program and my “student” has grown in leaps and bounds with this program.

Want to know why I like it so much?? Ok, I’ll tell ya.

1. It’s a complete program.
You can start at Pre-K and go all the way through 2nd grade. There’s even programs for older children, too. It’s not like it’s done after they’re reading…it keeps going. There are two levels to each grade. Each kit includes a guide for parents, readers, reward stickers, a CD-ROM, and the main daily book.

2. It’s reusable.
There’s nothing that makes me more happy then to spend my money on something that will get used time and time again. Everything in the kits are completely reusable, so I’m happy to know I can use them over again on my daughter.

3. It’s user friendly.
You can go as fast as your child goes or as slow as he goes. You can redo a certain section over and over if you need to. It’s super easy to teach from…not a lot of “fluff” and unnecessary wordage.

4. It’s engaging.
Each kit has a CD-ROM that is used when you introduce a new section. Each section in fun and engaging. My guy laughs every time. Also, they read along with the voice on the CD-ROM, which is really great for kids in such a techology driven age.

5. Workbooks.
Sometimes I like a little more to enforce what we’re learning. These kits also have workbooks available, if you like them. I have not used them, but I’m planning on purchasing some to work on over the summer.

6. Instant results.
Kids like to see they’re progressing. With Hooked on Phonics, kids feel like they’re reading right away. They use small steps to master each section before moving on, so children feel immediate victory!

Overall, I give this program a 10! I’ve told all my homeschool friends to use it…I love it that much. I am planning on ordering the Pre-K level for my 3-year-old too, as she is now ready to get in on all the action!
There’s nothing like teaching a child to read…and I can assuredly say that Hooked on Phonics has worked for us

Alicia is a homeschooling mama to three little students. She’s having a blast teaching them the joy of reading. You can read more about her on her personal blog: La Famille

Beginning Readers from All About Reading

Elementary, Language Arts, Phonics, Reading 1 Response »

Apr 212011

My beginning readers are children who have been raised on a wide variety of literature, from Dora the Explorer books (which do not really count as literature) to classics like Heidi and everything in between. As they have begun learning to read one thing I have tried to find are beautiful books on their level. I’m sorry, I’ve seen those beginning readers where the whole story is 3 or 4 words repeated in different combinations with varying punctuation. You know, ones that say:

“A cat?
A cat.
A mat.
A cat sat.
Cat on mat.
Cat sat.”

My children very quickly made it clear that those insipid readers were not worth their time and effort. I heartily agreed. On the other end of the spectrum you find beginning readers that include a whole list of ‘sight words’, words the child is simply expected to memorize by sight so they can read a story. Most of these sight words are, in fact, decodable, once you learn the spelling rules, but with a beginning reader I want to find beautiful stories that do not depend on a list of sight words outside the child’s reading level. Imagine my excitement two years ago when I discovered the readers put out by All About Learning Press, publishers of the All About Spelling curriculum.

We own all the readers available at this point. They are beautiful! The illustrations tell an often funny story, one that goes beyond the beginning reader text. Even at this very early level a story is not limited to 3-5 words repeated over and over. Currently there are 3 readers for level 1 and two available for level 2.

Our most recent purchase is the Run, Bug, Run! reader. In the 157 pages the only words that were not ‘short vowels’, and therefore completely decodable for my beginning readers, were “the” and “A”. A quick talk about open syllables and closed syllables explained why the vowels had long sounds. Here is a peek at a page from this book: My 5 and 6 year old both love these readers. Even the 3 year old is beginning the sound out letters from this reader.

Here is a picture from one of the level 2 readers, The Queen Bee. As you can see, the artwork is simply beautiful, and the stories are original and sweet. In this book the facing page often has a few short paragraphs of text, combined with this text above the illustration. (You can read the rest of this storyin the sample HERE to see more.)

Every family has different tastes in reading material. Finding books for beginning readers can often be frustrating. If you are looking for beautiful books for a beginning reader be sure to check out the samples for each book in this series!

Tristan is the happily homeschooling mother to 6 blessings age 9, 6, 5, 3, 1, and 2 months old. You can drop in and visit anytime over at her blog, Our Busy Homeschool.

Slow and Steady Get Me Ready

Hands On, Mom Helps, Phonics, Preschool 4 Responses »

Feb 022011

Today, after three-year-old finished her page from Color, Count and Cut, we pulled from our Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready book. The activity below is called Finish It. I read the beginning of each sentence and almost four-year-old finished it.

I went to the ice cream shop.
I am going on a vacation to see horses.
Yesterday I played in the snow.
Mother and I took a walk and saw a bumblebee.
Daddy gave me a prize.
A tree is a nature thing.
My car will drive.
My name is (three-year-old said her name
I am great at staying in the lines of stuff I am drawing.
I like to have hot chocolate in the winter.

That was terrific!! (her quick response when I paused. I was going to say, “That was the ‘finish it’ activity.”

We also use this book for Lil’ Buddy. His activity, at almost two years old, was Find and Touch. We found his head, eye, nose, ear, mouth, arm, hand, leg, foot and stomach (tummy).

Since I first recorded these activities, the youngest two are now five and three years old. Still, we pull out the Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready for each of them.

How often?

Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by June R. Oberlander has age appropriate activities from birth to age 5. Weekly developmental activities. Just one activity a week.

How much preparation? How much time?

Little preparation is necessary. I often pull the book down from the shelf and flip to the age-appropriate week just for inspiration. Sometimes I need to hunt a box from the garage, sometimes a string, buttons, construction paper. Always I have the supplies on hand. Most activities are five to 10 minutes at most.

Basic skills

The “My name is…” activity pictured above was an easy prompt to remind me to ask three-year-old his name and age. You’d think that would be something I’d remember to work on but in our busy Hodgepodge, I sometimes forget. Until someone at church asks him, “So, how old are you now?” The activities have also given me ideas for skills to include on a morning Room Time CD.

Introductory material for the new homeschooler/parent

Author June R. Oberlander encourages parents to introduce the material true to the title. “Avoid introducing activities too soon…” She also encourages repetition throughout the week since babies and preschoolers often learn that way.

“Since babies don’t come with directions, try these…” (examples include skill in grasping an object for infants to fine and gross motor skills for four-year-olds)
“Provides 5 years of activities at approximately a penny a day. Saves money by using home materials for the activities.”
“The best thing to spend on your children is your time!”
Also included are four pages of tips for solving behavioral dilemmas. “Keep calm and make your values clear to the child. Show interest, love, praise and above all, be consistent in following the rules you have established.”

A low key phonics program

When third grader was four years old we did the one letter a week activity. That year we filled a box up with alphabet puppets. Now I’ve been able to pull the box down with the younger two. Not rigorous but a gentle, easy way to introduce sounds and letters.

How much does it cost?

I am blessed to have been given this as a homeschool hand me down. Don’t I have a great friend? The 2003 version of Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready is available for $17.99 here.

Timeless for an age range

We are into our fifth year of pulling this resource off our bookshelf. When we first started using it, there were three of my children I could use it for: an almost five-year-old, two-year-old and a newborn.

This past November, the one who completed the Finish It activity (mentioned at top) turned five years old. She was able to say, as it does on the last page, “Slow and steady, now I am ready!” Now, I just pull it out for our youngest. He still has two more years. Slow and steady!

~Tricia faces a daily dose of chaos homeschooling five children. She contributes a blend of writing at parenting and homeschool sites as well as her own daily Hodgepodge.