Practical Review: Creative Alphabet For Preschool and Kindergarten

Marie Picard's  Creative Alphabet For Preschool and Kindergarten site description:
A great help for the parent to make a reading and writing readiness program for preschool and kindergarten. Includes a printing page at 1 1/2" size character for each letter of the alphabet, each with a word and a line drawing to color. Next to each printing page is a full list of words to choose from, for vocabulary, for an alphabet scrapbook, and for activities perhaps to do and talk about during the time your child is doing a particular letter. Other little siblings can benefit at the same time as they can see and hear and perhaps do at their level what the older child is drawing or colouring. The results should show that your student knows the sound and shape of each letter of the alphabet. After this book your child might practice in Book B. Check out our sample pages for both Book A and Book B.


My Thoughts:
This book is really intended to be a jumping off point for learning letter sounds.  According to the instructions in the front, it is only secondarily a handwriting book.  It has the parent teach the letters and sounds in alphabetical order.  For each letter, there is instructions on how to form it, several to trace, a couple of words to trace starting with that letter and then an extensive list of art projects, saints, scripture, songs, sports, food, toys and chores that all start with that letter sound.  It is intended that the parent spend several days on each letter and it's sound, using the list to generate activities or scrapbook ideas, and once the child has it mastered, the parent reviews the previous letters and sounds already learned.  I think this text would be especially helpful to a preschooler's mother who wishes to give him a head start without formal lessons with heavily scripted activities.  There are SO many letter sound categories and suggestions that a parent can choose whatever they have on hand that week to reinforce the sounds.  


My one criticism is the arrangement of letters learned.   A child would be most of the way through the year before he could read  Mat sat. Sam sat.  However, since this text doesn't build on itself, you can teach the letters in any arrangement you like.  If someone were using this text for preschool language instruction, I would suggest getting a set of Bob Books and teaching the letter sounds in the order they appear in that series.


MODG Families:
This text is used for MODG Kindergarten handwriting.  It not necessary to teach the letter sounds, as it is only intended for handwriting practice.  One page is taught per week, spending a little time each day forming the letters and tracing the words.  The syllabus follows the text by teaching the letters in alphabetical order.  


My Recommendations:
We found that it works best for us to teach the letters of the child's name first.  Then, the child learns the letters in a similar order as the phonics text.  


This is especially helpful if you were to be requiring actual WRITING for the "sound writing" activity at the tail end of the phonics lesson.  Early in the year, while we're learning to write our name, we often use sandpaper letters for that task in the phonics text (there's no M in Zach, so he wouldn't know that one yet), eliminating the pencil skill.  But once we're ready to move onto other letters, I chose the pages for handwriting that we'd be "sound writing" at the end of the week.  


For the phonics lesson, we are naming the lower case letter only by sound.  For handwriting I call it by name.  The child himself may notice that he knows the sound of that letter from his phonics text, but I don't point it out until the sound writing activity at the end of the week. That way the child can practice all week on the form and then connect it to the sound after the fine motor isn't such a chore.  


Conclusion:
If used as written, I feel this text would be very helpful for a Catholic preschooler's mother who wants to teach letter sounds, forms, and doesn't want to go out buying supplies for scripted activities.  One week she could use saints, another week using food examples.  It's unlikely that, given the extent of the list, she would need to shop at all to provide hands on examples.  Additionally, she won't have to think them up herself.  That alone makes it worth the $8.  Just look down the list and see what you have on hand.  However, I wouldn't recommend following the internal order of the book.  ABC order is not the best way to teach letter sounds as it is such a long time before the child gets to connect his skills to actual words.  M and S are too far down the alphabet!  


As a MODG handwriting book alone, it's sweet, but out of order for the phonics text which means the "sound writing" exercises at the end of the phonics lessons will need to NOT be actual writing.  Additionally, if a family is strapped for cash, as a handwriting text alone, it doesn't add anything that a parent couldn't provide with pencil and paper.  


However, if you are going to follow MODG's "one lesson a week" pace (generally 10 tasks per lesson) for the phonics text, and like me, concentrates that effort in twice a week sessions, the (really adorably Catholic) letter sound list would be sufficient for a parent to come up with a letter sound review activity on the fly for the off days from the phonics text.  I am BANANAS when it comes to manipulatives, but someone else might just want to review the letter sounds using cans from the pantry or the faces of saints in her stack of holy cards.  This text will have that list already ready for you. 

Practical Review: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Book Description from Publisher:
Is your child halfway through first grade and still unable to read? Is your preschooler bored with coloring and ready for reading? Do you want to help your child read, but are afraid you'll do something wrong?

SRAs DISTAR® is the most successful beginning reading program available to schools across the country. Research has proven that children taught by the DISTAR® method outperform their peers who receive instruction from other programs. Now for the first time, this program has been adapted for parent and child to use at home. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a complete, step-by-step program that shows patents simply and clearly how to teach their children to read.

Twenty minutes a day is all you need, and within 100 teaching days your child will be reading on a solid second-grade reading level. It's a sensible, easy-to-follow, and enjoyable way to help your child gain the essential skills of reading. Everything you need is here -- no paste, no scissors, no flash cards, no complicated directions -- just you and your child learning together. One hundred lessons, fully illustrated and color-coded for clarity, give your child the basic and more advanced skills needed to become a good reader.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons will bring you and your child closer together, while giving your child the reading skills needed now, for a better chance at tomorrow.

My Thoughts:

This book is a one-stop shop for learning to read.  There's writing, sounds, rhyming, blending, comprehension.  There's no need for any supplemental material, if you use it as written.

I find that this book works great on the "20 minutes a day" schedule it advertises for Lessons 1-20.  This will cover ALL the reading, writing, grammar and language work a parent could want.  

However, for lessons 20-100, I will repeat what another homeschool mom said about it:  The lessons aren't 20 minutes, they aren't "easy", and there's way more than 100 of them.  

The text doesn't change at that point, rather, the child starts really having to work.  Sentences are longer by that point, there's enough sounds to review that this takes some effort, and generally, my kids start to HATE it.  

That being said...I highly recommend it.   This program is effective, efficient, and cuts out all of the fat.  I would have a terrible time strong arming my kid into doing busywork, but there is NO busywork in this program.  It gets the job done!  Just be forewarned that if your child doesn't like to work hard (like most kids), you will need a backbone after Lesson 20 to make this happen.

MODG FAMILIES: 

MODG's Kindergarten and First Grade lesson plans have you do about one Lesson per week (not per day as the book advertises).  


I have found that we breeze ahead in the syllabus for Lessons 1-20, but slow down to that "one Lesson a week" rate from then on.  Rather than doing 1-2 tasks a day, as it recommends in the syllabus (there are 9-10 tasks per Lesson), we find that we can do half a lesson in a sitting, twice a week.  (There's a tantrum when the book comes out, and I can only work myself up to that a couple of times a week, so I get out of them what I can in each sitting before they go boneless and refuse to work.)  

Now, because of this slower pace (whether that happens at Lesson 1 or Lesson 20 for your family), they aren't getting the level of writing practice (and possibly sound review) that they need to keep from backsliding.  Once a week writing isn't enough. So, MODG uses a separate writing curriculum Writing Can Help Series, Book A: A Creative Alphabet (Marie Picard).


My Recommendations:
The MODG syllabus has you follow the internal order of the writing curriculum.  If you are going to follow that plan, I would not require the child to actually WRITE on the "sound writing" task in the text.  If he hasn't practiced making those letters yet, this will be REALLY frustrating.  So, on those weeks that we didn't practice those letters in writing, I let them finger-trace sandpaper letters instead.


Another alternative is to not follow the internal order of the writing book and instead practice all week on the pages in that book containing the letters from the "sound writing" task in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  For example, if you're working on Lesson 29 this week, practice ALL WEEK writing on the N and U pages in the writing workbook, since that's what they'll be asked to "sound write" at the end of the week. I don't make them say the sound as they write until we reach that task in the reading text, unless they quickly master making the letters. 

You may be a tougher mom than me and get those kids to do that recommended couple of tasks a day, but if you're like me and only force them to do the text twice a week, half a Lesson at a time, then they aren't seeing the sounds DAILY.  I, therefore, supplement with made up sound review activities. On our off days, we read Bob Books, or play "build a nonsense word" game with the known sounds from our Alphabet rocks, or practice sorting objects by letter sound under the correct sandpaper letter.  This is totally unnecessary if you follow the lesson plans, as they will see the sounds daily.  

Conclusion:
This is a great language text.  It's a one-stop shop for all your reading, writing needs.  However if you, like me, find that after Lesson 20 you are going much slower than the text recommends, you will need to make up the writing and possibly sound practice to get enough repetition each week.

How to Homeschool Multiple Ages

My kids are K-3.  Three different grades.  All pretty much need me to read their material aloud.  My baby sleeps...so far. But given at how many subjects there are and yada yada, three grades can get pretty complicated even when the youngest is only in kindergarten.  I would say the secret is knowing what you can do together, and knowing what have to do one on one.  Unfortunately, I can't give you a recipe for that.  It's a personality thing, but I can tell you how I do it.

1.  Start your day together.
We begin with a really short prayer "Jesus, bless our school day.  Be with us and help us to be with you."  Then I read the saint of the day aloud from the Saints for Young Readers book.  For you Charlotte Mason lovers, I do have them each tell me something from the beginning, middle, and end of the story (for younger kids) and a fuller narration for the older kid. We go in order of youngest to oldest.

2.  Bundle your memory work.
As a classically based school, we have things to recite. BORING.  But now, this is my favorite time of day!  Kindergartner just has a poem, personal info like address and birthday, and memory songs like Days of the Week.  Second Grader has poetry, catechism, phonograms, and states and capitals.  Third Grader has all that plus Latin and history dates and skip counting the multiplication tables.  But, we do it TOGETHER.  That means I don't ever have to "review" old material individually since they just said it with the little kid.  And it's easier for the little kids to memorize later because they sat through it a hundred times.

3.  Provide busy centers.
Each week, I have a shelf of busy stuff.  It's only allowed during school (which makes the activities seem "special".)  During Recitation, or anytime they're finished with their work, or are working and need to fidget, what-have-you...all the kids use it.  My usually formula is...something to build with, something carpentry-like, something sewing-like, something puzzle-like, something sensory, something grody or cool.  In a Montessori classroom, you might be able to leave all this out, but since my kids are older, I rotate frequently.  They see something for one week every month or so unless it's a HUGE hit, and then we wear it out and put it away for longer.

4.  Organize your individual sessions according to naughtiness. 
Personality...I mean  personality!  After Recitation, we start our individual sessions.  Each child has "with me" work and "alone" work.  Usually just writing.  I make them do their "alone" work while I do Kindergartener's work in my lap.  (We're still all in the same room, now.)  This is so that once he's done, he can play and has at least one older sibling to play with.  Next, I work with Second Grader since if I let her get playing on something, she can't stop easily and throws a fit.  Finally, I work with Third Grader, since he's my easy baby.  He doesn't care if he's got a good game of Beyblades going.  He comes when I call.

5.  Limit your curriculum priorities.
We have the FIVE R'S:  Recitation, Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Religion.  That's our core.  Everything else is a side event.  We recite together, we write together, by-enlarge our religion is together.  math and reading are one on one.  The last part of the individual work with me is "subject time." This is usually just for the Third Grader.  A few times a week we need to read some science, history, or religion lessons.  Then we are technically DONE.  Well, there is one vestigal requirement for the day happens after dinner; the kids read easy readers aloud to us.  M-TH, this is not optional.  15-30 minutes each for second and third grade.  If it's too close to bed time, one reads to me and the other to hubby.

Yes, we have literature and natural history and geography reading and whatnot, but they are SECONDARY and I don't stress if we get behind in them.  Yes, they're are actually my favorite subjects and the thing that makes me love homeschool and feel like I accomplished something beautiful, but I have to swallow that and identify the priorities.

6.  Reserve a day for music, art, and worksheet time.
But where's the music and art and...and...and?  It's called FRIDAY.  All subjects are M-TH except math.  Math is Friday and then all the art, music, worksheets, journaling, drawing lessons or anything else I like.  Sprinkling those throughout the week just stresses me out.  I can't keep up with what child does which on what day.  And for music, we have Music Masters and matching coloring pages and picture books.  We rotate through them a few times K-3.  We listen to them on Friday and color or narrate, for the older children.  Art, we use Mommy, It's a Renoir (according to age) and I give an individual drawing lesson from Draw Squad or the Montessori Inset lessons according to skill level.  Any worksheets, like Hayes Music lessons or Abeka geography, or Seasons and Living things are all done on this day.

7.  Bundle read-alouds at the end of the day.
At the end of each school day, we come together again for read-alouds.  I try to read about 30 minutes.  This is where all the literature happens.  It's not divided by grade.  I just have a master list and I rotate through it.   And for you Charlotte Mason lovers, this is where all your stuff happens.  I have a second layer of reading on top of the regular literature for living books in geography, natural history, liturgical year, and history stories.  But remember, these are not the #1 priority.  I got all that done in the morning.  This is the fun part.

This is where you find Burgess, Holling C. Holling, and Baldwin.  But again, I don't divide it by grade, just responsibility.  If you're in kindergarten, you don't narrate and journal.  You can play with the busy centers.  If you're older, you have to tell it back to me.  Any book that you weren't old enough to narrate the first time will likely come back around in third grade.

So here's the priority schedule:


Monday through Thursday
Religion:  Prayer and saint story
Recitation
Kindergartener's 3R's, others WRite
Second grader's 2R's, others play
Third Grader's 2R's, others play
DONE (I usually read aloud for at least 30 minutes or dabble in their once-a-week subjects to lighten Friday)

*Evening easy reader practice after dinner (not optional)

Friday
Prayer and saint story
Math, Worksheets, Any once-a-week subjects we didn't do, Art, Narration Illustrations, and Music
DONE (But I might read aloud cause I love it.)

Bass Pro Field Trip

Really, it was a trip to get Papa a new fishing rod.  But, since it was technically a school day, we made it educational.  We took our local species cards and headed over to the fish tank.  At Bass Pro, you can see many of the local fish in their central tank.  So, we took out our cards and identified all the fish in the tank.  

It was not easy!  And, it was certainly helpful eating up time while Papa talked about rods to the sales guy, and talked, and talked....

Our Morning Routine

My days are simple, but explaining what I do when and why can be complicated, so I'll break it up.

One way or another, I have to be up at 8AM to get baby up.  She needs to go down for her nap at 10AM, so I can do school.  But, generally, I am comatose in the morning, slurping coffee and whisper-barking at people hush, "It's MORNING, people!"  If I have the presence of mind to go ahead and take my shower when I get out of bed, I tend to be nicer.

By 8:30, we have to get moving.  Which means they move and I drink more coffee.  Have you said hello to Jesus in your heart this morning?  Brushed teeth?  How's your room?  Any laundry to throw in the washer?  Spread up the bed.  Alright, everyone hit the tubs, get dressed.  Now go back and fix the bathrooms you just killed.

By 9:30 I need to be feeding the troops so we can get the dishes unloaded and reloaded.  After that we do some cross-crawling and sing along with School House Rock multiplication.  I know that sounds nuts, but my third grader is an auditory learner and sings his multiplication in the morning. And see THIS article about the cross-crawling.

Hopefully, we head upstairs for school at 10AM.

Coffee and delirium

--------------------------8AM-BABY UP--------------------------

8:30-more sitting, but barking orders from computer

Morning prayer

Brush teeth

Clean room

Straighten bed

Get showered /dressed

Check laundry

Check bathroom and hall

Check living room and kitchen

9:30

Eat and chores

Schoolhouse Rock and Brain Gym

Color: DIY Color Box

I've been trying not to buy Color Box 3 for ages.  I think the layout is SO PRETTY.  But since I couldn't justify it, I made a DIY version with paint samples from Walmart.  I'm not into taking big piles of free stuff from stores, but this time I made an exception, as I will likely laminate and maintain this collection, using it to choose paint over the next hundred years. 

I found that the biggest time investment is FINDING the shades in order.  It was a workout for my eyes!  I don't like the one that I can't cut off the name of the shade without making my card tiny, so I had to hand pick the colors individually.  (I think these are Better Homes and Gardens)  Then I went home and lopped off the name.

I *think* I have EIGHT of each color blue, red, yellow, green, orange, purple.  I have the browns and black but they don't have a place on my color wheel, so we put them to the side.

Since my kids are older, we mix all the cards.  They sort by color and then shade.

First we lay out the primary colors.

Then we add the secondary colors.

Full disclosure, my kids don't LOVE this activity like I do.  But after performing it a few times, I found them lining up all their markers, pencils, and crayons by color and shade and sorting them into containers.

Steriognostic/Math: Cuisenaire Chutes and Ladders

I LOVE this game. The kids quickly learn the cuisenaire values, get great sensory discernment, memorize their math facts, and learn to measure in centimeters with their hands!

It's just chutes and ladders.  The print out you see is from this free book.  You could also use a regular Chutes and Ladders board.

Instead of using a spinner, you draw rods out of the bag.  Yes, that IS a bag for crackers.  My pretty canvas bag hadn't come in the mail yet.

You may have to set a time limit on how long someone gets to root around in the bag looking for a "5" so they can go up the ladder, but I think it's worth it.

In order to master the game, there were several spontaneous "time outs" called by the short folks to line up all the rods by size and practice measuring with eyes closed.  They were worried that I wouldn't like that.  As Margaret Homfrey from Montessori World says, "You see the children doing intelligent things....and the teacher is very pleased."