Children Learning Reading

I recently was chosen to try out Jim Yang's e-book lessons Children Learning Reading. It's a program designed to instill early reading skills for children that can be started at an early age or used once they are school aged. Nolan and I have been trying it out learning basic letter sounds and phonics. I'm not in any rush to teach Nolan but like to explore whatever he is most interested in at the time. He loves books and asks questions so we thought this was a great time to start! I grew up loving reading (still do) and can't wait for both kids to find the joy of books too.

We've been trying it out for a few weeks now and while Nolan isn't suddenly reading Shakespeare, he is now more interested in letter sounds which is a start. He's gone through the first few lessons so far and we're working on putting together and blending a few letter sounds at a time. This program is .pdf file based so the tools you use (flashcards or letter drawings) need to be created by you the parent. There are .mp3 clips of appropriate sounds to help you out and also to use with your child. It's a hands on program that starts with you reading a pretty intensive description and instruction file. I've used an early reading program in the past that mainly involved videos and this is definitely not that. I loved that it gave me reasoning for each of the steps we were doing and was very thorough in describing what I should be doing. They recommend doing the short lessons a few times a day and only moving on once your child has mastered each step. This program is a time commitment but anything that has a chance of working likely is! 

Children Learning Reading focuses on phonics and Phonemic Awareness (PA). I wasn't familiar with what that actually entailed and really only remember phonics from grade school so I was hesitant as I started reading. Basically though, PA entails blending letter sounds and teaching the children to sound out words. No sight word memorization or rote memorization which is a plus.

If you're interested in starting a basic phonics approach to teaching your child to read, you should definitely check out Children Learning Reading!! You can see videos of children who have used the program here too. I'll post back as we continue trying out this program!!

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Back to School

Our TotSchool started this week. If you remember, we did this last year and blogged about it a few times. Basically we follow a preschool curriculum at home (this year it's a program a few of us in the group wrote) and meet once a week together for a group class and then every other week or so for a fun field trip event too.

Nolan was so excited to go to school yesterday. As we were driving there and I told him we were going to the park first, he told me over and over again that no he would rather go to school first. He kept asking for his backpack and to ride on a bus. Poor kiddo needs to visit his grandma so he can explore a school bus! Let's hope this enthusiasm continues once he actually gets to school.

This week we are focusing on the letter M, color red, shape circle, and the overall theme of All About Me. Nolan started using scissors and is obsessed with them. He asks to do "cut, cut" constantly. Lots of fun crafts, art projects, and stories being read! Here are a few pictures from our fun today.

"Hmm...which circle should I pick next?"

Teaching Tots!

I'm hosting our TotSchool meeting tomorrow. I've been planning for a few weeks and it all just came together tonight. This week is our field trip week but we're not doing an actual tour or such as being our 4th week in we didn't have quite the planning time. So instead we're having our fun outdoors at a local park. I'll have stations set up all pertaining to the Letter D. It's more play than some of our indoor events and the arts and crafts portions will take home. That required a bit of prep!

This motivated me to build my flannel story board I've been wanting to make. It was very simple to create and by making it I save a lot of money! Tomorrow we'll be singing a fun duck song/story and using it for the first time. It was a bit tedious cutting out so many ducks but the kids will love getting to play along. Nolan helped me place them all onto the board for a good pic.

We'll be having a dinosaur themed moon sand filled sensory table. Our water table will be "D is for Dishes" and full of plates, cups, and fun sponges. We'll be playing dress up and tossing bean bags in to a giant letter D. Fun songs and books will wrap everything together. Let's hope it goes well!!

**update** Here is another item I made for the board. I painted the turtle face on with acrylic paint and sewed on the carapace (shell) and stitched to make the scutes (scales) divisions. More to come soon!

TotSchool

It's official, Nolan has started school. TotSchool that is! TotSchool is a small group of mommas who joined together in a cooperative, are following a preschool homeschool curriculum at home, and meet once a week for a group activity or school day.

Our curriculum is lots of fun and is basically a way to help me make sure we get in educational activities each day. Lots of play, arts and crafts, and overall fun is involved. Since Nolan doesn't go to preschool or daycare he doesn't have the opportunity to interact in a structured environment with kiddos his own age. We do playdates, story times, and lots of activities with our moms group but things like circle time and sitting at a table with other kids aren't usually involved. In TotSchool though, he has to listen and follow directions from other moms when they are leading the class, sit still for short periods of time, and gets to interact with some slightly older toddlers all with mom!

Last week was our first week. We "studied" the letter A, color red, and number 1. We talked a lot about apples and had fun red apple snacks! Some of the fun things we did included painting an apple tree, playing hide and find the A, doing an apple toss, and reading fun books. Nolan was the youngest kiddo at the group class day but did great. He's now saying A and B and picking out the letter A from his magnetic alphabet.

This week we are on to the letter B and our group class will be on the beach!