Follow the rest of my hopscotch Here!
Day One: Math
Day Two: Science
Day Three: History
Day Four: Computer Programs
Day Five: Reading
I remember one of the most fearful things about homeschooling to me was worrying that I would not be able to teach my kids to read. It haunted me. My oldest went with My Father's World, and I loved the curriculum.. however when it came to learning to read, we still struggled. We made it halfway through first grade with that curriculum before we started switching up and trying new things. We tried a year of Time4Learning, and she stared disliking school very much. Somehow thought, between what we learned from MFW and Time4Learning, she was slowly learning to read, and starting to enjoy it.
It was at that time she actually began a private school for about three months, which solidified her learning curve. She was reading pretty well by the time she got out of the school, only to begin homeschooling again in the following year. When we started back, we jumped into Explode the Code and Reading Eggs to finish her program. Somehow, she emerged a strong reader, and loves reading! I'll always say it was Gods provision and his alone that led her to her reading, because her education was really unstable during those early years, but He is good, and she learned anyway! However, when my son began 1st Grade, I didn't want to go down that same road again.
It was at that time she actually began a private school for about three months, which solidified her learning curve. She was reading pretty well by the time she got out of the school, only to begin homeschooling again in the following year. When we started back, we jumped into Explode the Code and Reading Eggs to finish her program. Somehow, she emerged a strong reader, and loves reading! I'll always say it was Gods provision and his alone that led her to her reading, because her education was really unstable during those early years, but He is good, and she learned anyway! However, when my son began 1st Grade, I didn't want to go down that same road again.
I picked up Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It bogged me down immediately. I picked up Abeka, but with two other children in two different grades, I was again really bogged down again with lesson plans. I needed something that was very thorough, but took far less planning time on my part! But reading isn't something I wanted to phone out on, its the foundation for everything else he will ever learn.. so I began combing the web for ideas and reviews, and thankfully, I stumbled upon All About Reading!
It was by far the best curriculum purchase I have ever made! We are LOVING both All About Reading as well as All About Spelling!!! We begin our day by setting up our white board with colored tiles. We have all of the letters laid out in front of us.
The teachers manual could not be easier! It's basically just open and start school! The letter tiles are interactive, so rather than writing the words, he builds the words, and loves that! It keeps his attention, which is something that is hard to do for a wiggly 7 year-old boy! He learned his vowels quickly as they were red and the other tiles were blue. There's also tiles for consonant teams, such as Th and Ch.. etc. It could not possibly be more easy! The index cards work as flash cards, to hold up and read... simple as it can be!
We also have an app on my phone that gives us the correct phonics sounds. Now I don't like to admit that I may need this sometimes.. being that I was an English minor way back when I got my Bachelors degree in Communication.. but what can I say? Sometimes my southern dialect gets the better of me, so this is very helpful and used frequently!!! The activity book has amazing activities! This one is feeding a monster! The monster's bones have words written on the back side of them. Hudson reads the words, and if he gets them correct, he feeds the bones to the monster!
This day, we cut out paper eggs, put them in a pan, and flipped them over to read the word! A correct reading meant a finished egg! Hudson really enjoyed this one!
And today's lesson included a cutout of a cute little mouse, and cut outs for cheese! The little guy would sneak up and grab a piece of cheese from the pile, and if Brother read correctly, the cheese was the mouse's to keep!
All About Reading!
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