After hemming and hawing over this for months, last night I decided that we'd just start MFWK this week and see what happens.
Johnny is 5y2m and to me seems developmentally ready for this program.
Originally, I was going to use this as our true kindergarten year (according to the public school calendar, which would start at the beginning of August this year).
Instead, we're going to start now and just work our way through, taking breaks as needed. I'll decide what to use after we finish MFWK when we get closer to that point.
I'm telling him that his grade is "pre-kindergarten" and we're calling Vivienne's grade "preschool." Subtle difference, but he likes having "kindergarten" in the title. We'll call him an official kindergartner in August. The label doesn't matter much for our purposes, but we'll keep it aligned with the public school progression.
This week, we're learning about the days of creation. We're reading the Bible text about it, and making a page of a book for each day. Johnny intensely loves making books -- he does it on his own all the time, so this is right up his alley.
I printed out a copy of the craft page for Vivie to do if she wanted (the MFW copyright allows this for this unit only) and she didn't want to today. No problem. It's there IFF she wants to participate.
We will continue with our All About Reading program. J finished lesson 10 last week. It's going well, and I think I'm going to add some of the games from our Happy Phonics set. I *think* AAR has a game pack you can purchase for this level, but I've already spent enough money on reading curricula.
Back to MFWK. So looking forward to the first two regular units, Sun (unit 1) and Moon (unit 2)! Johnny loves astronomy. I plan to visit the Children's Museum and view a show at the planetarium when we are somewhere in these units. Squee!
I'll update at the end of the creation unit with some photos and extra books and videos we viewed.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
First six lessons of All About Reading level 1
We started AAR probably two weeks ago? I think? I'm not sure when things happen anymore -- it all kind of blurs together.
At first, I only ordered the teacher's guide, student workbook, and books (the package that is $99). I thought maybe I'd try to make it work with our own hands-on letters instead of theirs.
We got through a few lessons that way, but I quickly realized that their letter tiles would make things a lot easier on me, so I ordered the letter tiles and magnets. There is now a free app to see and hear letter sounds, so I didn't buy the CD or package that includes a CD. If you're familiar with the AAR products then you'll know what I'm talking about.
I thought I'd have to punch out all the tiles myself, and do the magnet thing myself...but both Johnny and Vivie were eager to help with setup and it made it go much faster. Yay!
This is right on Johnny's level. A perfect fit. He can do the lessons easily, though some words are a challenge and he needs to slow down and think it through.
I've been happy with the relatively short lessons, the progression of concepts taught, the different worksheets, and how the program uses a variety of approaches to teach reading. We just finished lesson 6 this morning (of like 49, I think?).
At the end of each lesson, we put a sticker on his little progress chart.
When Vivie wants to be involved, I quiz her on individual letter names and some sounds by using the flashcards or letter tiles. No blending. I photocopied the progress chart, and she gets a sticker if she either participates somewhat, OR if she plays nicely elsewhere/nearby and lets me and Johnny do the lesson :).
Lesson #5 was only some quick flash card review and then he read two stories to me from his book. They are really basic, with black and white drawings, but I think they're fine for this stage. He can handle some slightly more advanced stories, but it's good for confidence and reinforcement.
Johnny noticed we didn't do a lesson yesterday, and he was annoyed at that. Sorry bud. I'm not trying to do it every day, but if he brings it up we'll do it. I'm aiming for a few times per week, perhaps.
It's early in the game, but I'm glad I purchased this. I need the structure of "which letters/sounds to teach in the best order."
At first, I only ordered the teacher's guide, student workbook, and books (the package that is $99). I thought maybe I'd try to make it work with our own hands-on letters instead of theirs.
We got through a few lessons that way, but I quickly realized that their letter tiles would make things a lot easier on me, so I ordered the letter tiles and magnets. There is now a free app to see and hear letter sounds, so I didn't buy the CD or package that includes a CD. If you're familiar with the AAR products then you'll know what I'm talking about.
I thought I'd have to punch out all the tiles myself, and do the magnet thing myself...but both Johnny and Vivie were eager to help with setup and it made it go much faster. Yay!
This is right on Johnny's level. A perfect fit. He can do the lessons easily, though some words are a challenge and he needs to slow down and think it through.
I've been happy with the relatively short lessons, the progression of concepts taught, the different worksheets, and how the program uses a variety of approaches to teach reading. We just finished lesson 6 this morning (of like 49, I think?).
At the end of each lesson, we put a sticker on his little progress chart.
When Vivie wants to be involved, I quiz her on individual letter names and some sounds by using the flashcards or letter tiles. No blending. I photocopied the progress chart, and she gets a sticker if she either participates somewhat, OR if she plays nicely elsewhere/nearby and lets me and Johnny do the lesson :).
Lesson #5 was only some quick flash card review and then he read two stories to me from his book. They are really basic, with black and white drawings, but I think they're fine for this stage. He can handle some slightly more advanced stories, but it's good for confidence and reinforcement.
Johnny noticed we didn't do a lesson yesterday, and he was annoyed at that. Sorry bud. I'm not trying to do it every day, but if he brings it up we'll do it. I'm aiming for a few times per week, perhaps.
It's early in the game, but I'm glad I purchased this. I need the structure of "which letters/sounds to teach in the best order."
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Reading lesson with Happy Phonics and "Go, Dog. Go!"
Johnny has been patiently waiting for the delivery of All About Reading. The mail has been delayed thanks to the arctic weather we've been having.He wanted another DIY reading lesson.
Today, I pulled out some games from our Happy Phonics kit. Have I talked about Happy Phonics on here before, or just in my head? I picked HP up from a used sale for $20. It's a steal at that price (new is $50 I think) because my set was pre-cut and sorted. Some things were even laminated! To me, that's better than new.
Happy Phonics is cool because it has a large variety of reading games. Really simple stuff on cardstock, but fun for kids and seriously educational.
Today, Johnny and I did "The Reading House" where we read words ending with -all, -at, and -ame. We slid letters through the reading house, so Johnny read things like "ball," "call," "wall," etc.
Next, we did "rhyme time" where we matched pictures (not words or letters) of things that rhymed. So, cat and hat, etc.
Our last game was "the castle game" (I think?) which was a board-game style page with all of the vowels as spaces on the board. We took turns flipping picture cards, and we moved our token to the space where the vowel was represented. For example, a picture of a hat, we'd move to an "a." Bus, move it to the "u." We moved our tokens up the game board toward the castle. Johnny won. He usually does.
I am so pleased with how he's responding to the games in Happy Phonics. They really are fun for him, and they're a great reinforcement. HP encourages use with Explode the Code workbooks. I have a couple of them but I'm just not sure if I want to use them. We'll see.
After that, I asked if he'd read a book to me. I picked "Go, Dog. Go!" because it's one of our favorites, and it's on his level.
I had him point to each word as he read it, to help with visual tracking and to make sure he saw each word rather than skip ahead. We paused when he wanted to study the pictures or talk about the wacky dogs. He did great with most words, and I helped him with others.
One of the great things about this book is the repetition. So the word "over" stumped him at first encounter, but it came up again later and he got it.
Toward the end of the 64 pages, I could tell he was getting a little fatigued, so I had him point to each word while I read it.
A completely fun reading lesson and it ended when Vivienne noticed I was missing and wanted some attention. Johnny wanted to keep on reading! Yay!
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Hop on Pop
Johnny has been reading CVC words for awhile, and attempting some others. I asked him the other day if he'd read a book to me -- I pulled "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss since I knew it was very friendly to new readers.
He read I'd say 95% all by himself! So excited! Toward the end of the book, I could tell he was getting fatigued, but he still had a good attitude about it.
He would like to read more, so I think I should encourage that while the interest is there.
I'm drawn to the laid-back philosophy of "just" using books and teachable moments to get through phonics and sight words. The "Teach A Child to Read with Children's Books" and Ruth Beechick's approach as well. They sound great to me, but with my firstborn I just don't have the confidence. Maybe Viv or Amelia will get that approach, idk.
I've read wonderful things about the All About Reading curriculum. Some reviewers said they tried a few other approaches, and wish they just did AAR first.
Part of me bristled a bit at the price tag -- $99 for the first level (we're skipping the pre-reading level). Now, most of it will be reusable with my girls, and I'll just need to add a student pack for them for like $20ish each. So the long-term potential and resale value is there. But still! I could buy a lot of great children's books for that price.
You're supposed to buy a special letter-magnet set to add a hands-on element. I didn't quite like the price tag of that, either, where one reviewer said it was basically thickly laminated paper that was pre-cut out. Meh.
We have some rubber crepe letters from a Lauri puzzle and I'm going to see what we can do with that first, though we won't be able to make all the phonograms with just the 26 letters. Perhaps that plus a white board will be sufficient and if not, I'll get the regular letters sold by that company.
I asked Johnny what he thought about me buying a book that will help me teach him to read. "Do it! When do you think it will get here? I will do it 100 days in a row," he told me. Haha!
So we'll start it when it arrives. P.S., Johnny turned 5 a few weeks ago, Vivie turned 3, and Amelia is 3 months.
As for Viv, she will probably insist on being involved/monopolizing things. I have some coloring books and sticker books for her, and some educational manipulatives that I hope she'll enjoy. Or maybe I can distract her with ... gasp... a movie. Lol. I will do whatever it takes.
He read I'd say 95% all by himself! So excited! Toward the end of the book, I could tell he was getting fatigued, but he still had a good attitude about it.
He would like to read more, so I think I should encourage that while the interest is there.
I'm drawn to the laid-back philosophy of "just" using books and teachable moments to get through phonics and sight words. The "Teach A Child to Read with Children's Books" and Ruth Beechick's approach as well. They sound great to me, but with my firstborn I just don't have the confidence. Maybe Viv or Amelia will get that approach, idk.
I've read wonderful things about the All About Reading curriculum. Some reviewers said they tried a few other approaches, and wish they just did AAR first.
Part of me bristled a bit at the price tag -- $99 for the first level (we're skipping the pre-reading level). Now, most of it will be reusable with my girls, and I'll just need to add a student pack for them for like $20ish each. So the long-term potential and resale value is there. But still! I could buy a lot of great children's books for that price.
You're supposed to buy a special letter-magnet set to add a hands-on element. I didn't quite like the price tag of that, either, where one reviewer said it was basically thickly laminated paper that was pre-cut out. Meh.
We have some rubber crepe letters from a Lauri puzzle and I'm going to see what we can do with that first, though we won't be able to make all the phonograms with just the 26 letters. Perhaps that plus a white board will be sufficient and if not, I'll get the regular letters sold by that company.
I asked Johnny what he thought about me buying a book that will help me teach him to read. "Do it! When do you think it will get here? I will do it 100 days in a row," he told me. Haha!
So we'll start it when it arrives. P.S., Johnny turned 5 a few weeks ago, Vivie turned 3, and Amelia is 3 months.
As for Viv, she will probably insist on being involved/monopolizing things. I have some coloring books and sticker books for her, and some educational manipulatives that I hope she'll enjoy. Or maybe I can distract her with ... gasp... a movie. Lol. I will do whatever it takes.
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