Heard in the car today...

We were headed to the store today.  Madeline was in the backseat writing a story about Halloween that she had started before we left home.   As we pulled into the parking lot, she asked, "Mom, may I ride in the cart so that I can keep writing?  I REALLY love writing!"  That's why we homeschool!  Made me smile!

Reading & Writing

Madeline has been making good progress in reading recently.  I have been very happy with the ClickN Read Phonics Program. She has also been using the ABeCeDarian Reading Program along with several sets of Bob Books that I picked up.

 I wanted to add some additional language and writing activities for her.  I really like to idea of a daily journaling time, but I needed motivation for her.  So, I found this book

It contains lots of writing prompts, some of which are a bit too advanced for Madeline right now... the book is recommended for grades 2-6... but some which will work now.  I figured that I would be able to use the ideas for years to come.

I also picked up a couple of out writing resources.  This one has daily practice activities correlated to the 6 Traits of Writing.  I am planning to explain the activities to her and then let her work independently on them.

This book has lots of writing prompts and provides guidance on topic development.  I thought it had a lot of good ideas.

I am also thinking about spelling.  Earlier in the year I thought that I would be using the Making Words books and that would provide an easy spelling list.  I decided not to use those books, however, since the work is very similar to that in the ABeCeDarian Reading Program.  So, I am going to pull spelling words from the work Madeline is doing in both the ABeCeDarian Reading Program as well as from word lists that are provided with the ClickNRead program.  ClickN Read provides both a list of words she is learning in the program as well as Dolch word lists for pre-primer, primer, first grade, second grade, and third grade.  

So, that is my plan for now.  I think it is a good one!

Isabella's Writing

Isabella has been quite a reluctant writer... I am not talking about journal writing or story writing, or anything like that... I am talking about just the task of writing.  She has not wanted to write letters or numbers, and has certainly not wanted any instruction in how to form letters and numbers correctly.  So, I asked her to write some words as part of the ABeCeDarian Reading Program.  At first she thought it would be a good idea to draw a picture instead.  When I again asked her to write the words, she went and got a piece of blank paper.  I thought she has just decided to draw somewhere else.  Instead, she drew lines on her paper and wrote all of the words several times, almost all correctly.  Then she proudly wrote her name at the top.  I never know!

Here she is working away on writing the words.

Here is her finished paper.

An Unexpected Election Day Result

Madeline was working on her first assignment from this book...

and she said, "Oh, I'm going to fill this out like I'm voting."  I was not sure what she was talking about until she started drawing circles next to the answer choices and darkening the one next to the correct answer, just like she watched me do when I completed my ballot on Election Day.

Here is her completed "ballot"

Journaling

Writing is such an important component of learning, but Madeline has been somewhat resistant to the idea. She has, though, for the past year, been happy to write on her own terms. This means she writes what she wants, when she wants. Truthfully, I would expect nothing less from her! Her "invented spelling" has improved over the year however, and we can now read most of what she writes. Mostly she writes cards for people, or notes on her artwork. So, I decided to introduce journaling (yet again), and this effort was met with some success.

Madeline wrote a very nice story, which was illustrated, based on the movie "Fly Away Home," which the girls just watched (and love, by the way), as part of our study of migration and hibernation (a subject of another blog entry, coming soon). She was so proud of it that she read it to everyone at bedtime.

Isabella also decided that journaling would be a good idea, when she saw Madeline doing it. She "wrote" and illustrated a story about "The Very Hungry Princess," which was very loosely based on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She also "read" her story to us at bedtime!

Hopefully their enthusiasm will continue and lots of writing will take place in the days, weeks, and years to come. It is so wonderful to see them expressing their own creativity on paper!

Here are some pictures of the girls in the act of journaling.

Beginning Reading and Writing Resources

My sister, Kris, asked me about teaching beginning reading and writing, so I thought I would post some of the resources we have found useful. This is not a comprehensive list of all of the things we have used. Some materials we have tried for a while and found that they are not a great fit for us. I will not bother to list them here.

I really like the book How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann. I think I favor it since my Master's program was focused on Direct Instruction, and so it is very familiar to me. I find it very easy to use and very systematic. The kids have found success with it.

We have also really enjoyed using Systematic Sequential Phonics They Use. The lessons are simple and relatively quick for those with short attention spans.

We have also used the Letter Factory DVD by Leap Frog for learning the letter sounds.

We have also found a few great websites.

Starfall (http://www.starfall.com/) has lots of reading resources and it is FREE! They have great little songs for remembering vowel sounds and all of the girls have just loved the stories, especially Zac the Rat and Gus the Duck.

We have also used Headsprout (http://www.headsprout.com/). The girls have enjoyed the "episodes" in this program, and I have certainly seen great improvement in their skills as they have progressed through the program. Madeline is almost finished with the program and Isabella is about a third of the way through.

As I stated in another post, we have recently started using ClickN Read Phonics (http://www.clicknread.com/). I think this program is a bit more comprehensive than the Headsprout program. It does require them to find the letters on the keyboard. It has the added benefit of the child being able to start on any lesson, based on his or her ability. This was great for Madeline since I felt that there were skills that she still needed reinforcement with, but she certainly did not need to start all over at the beginning. Also, with ClickN Read Phonics, once one child has completed the program another can begin at no extra cost.

To help the girls enjoy literature and its elements (including illustrations), we have used Before Five in A Row and Five in a Row. This program uses children's literature to teach language arts, social studies, science, math, and art. Both the girls and I have enjoyed reading the stories and they have learned about things like onomatopoeia, where Paris is located, and different mediums illustrators use. You can find the guides at http://www.fiveinarow.com/. The only difficulty is that then you either have to buy the children's books to go along with it or find them in your library.

As for writing, I have found the Handwriting Without Tears program to be a great curriculum for teaching letter formation (http://www.hwtears.com/). It provides many different ways for the children to experience the letters (and numbers). The girls have really enjoyed the activities from this program. Madeline was particularly fascinated with the wood pieces when she was younger.

That is all I can think of, for now.