We've Been Reading

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself with both kids at school and all my work caught up.

My Mom was out of town and Andrew couldn't get out of work and, for the first time in literal years, I didn't know what to do with myself.  I hit my usual go tos and then happened past the library and decided to pull in.

Now here's an embarrassing confession: I haven't read a book in almost a year.

I know.

I love reading.  But when Andrew left for Arizona last year and we went into high gear with packing and house selling and moving across the country-ing, I just got out of the habit of reading.  I've tried to read a few things since then without any success.  When I was flying up to Minnesota a few times back in November I started Outlander and loved it.  But if I wasn't on a plane, I didn't feel like reading so I didn't.

I chalk it up to too much Life happening.  Not enough accountability without (sniff) my beloved book clubbies back in Georgia.  Too many feelings of my own to take on any character's emotions.

Being in the library without any little hands pulling me anywhere was awesome.  

I took my time, walked up and down isles.  After about 15 minutes I started to feel that old urge to pick something good and got serious with the library catalog.  Then I plopped down in a chair and read until I had to pull myself up to go get the kids from school.

Since then we've all been reading more.

Gabe's current pick: Treasure Island.  Which I've never read before.  Good bedtime stuff, y'all.

obvious disclaimer: gabe can't read

his school is good, but not that good.  although he did memorize the

pledge of allegiance in like 2 days so i'm hopeful his reading journey will

be easier than josie's has been.

The books that I picked were great.

How Do You Tuck In A Superhero? was fabulous.  I thought it was going to give me tips on raising this wild man child living in my house and eating all my food, but it was more of a memoir of a mom raising 5 boys.  It's short chapters with funny stories or lessons she's learned and had me laughing a ton.  Also made me miss Kelsey something fierce.

First The Broccoli Then The Ice Cream was another good one.  It's a parenting book, but not stuffy.  I loved his practical advice.  Gabe's been a bit difficult lately and we implemented a few things from the book and instantly saw an improvement.  I don't usually like an entire parenting book, but this one I did.

The last one I had to read slow since, God help me, raising girls is hard.

Raising Girls was one that jumped off the shelf at me.  Josie is at this pre-pre teen age that I didn't expect to be different than little girl age.  She is such a joy to be with.  Honestly, I'm surprised by how much I enjoy her company.  Normally elementary aged kids drive me nuts.  But her emotions are big and her thoughts are complex.  I feel totally unprepared for this phase of life and want all the help I can get.

This book was full of good advice.  I feel a little better about how to handle things, but mostly glad to know what she's going through is totally normal.

guess how many times i tried to flip this the right way?

Speaking of Josie, she's been reading too.

I've been super open about how much of a struggle it's been to get Josie reading.

I hate saying she was behind, because that is just silly.  She's 8 and improving every day which is totally acceptable in my book.  My concern was more with her dislike of reading more than her skill level.  I knew that her feelings towards reading were mostly due to the stress I caused when she was just starting out.  So we are working hard to get her to enjoy it.

We check out at least 20 books a week and if she isn't in to one we start, we don't keep going.

Her reading level has jumped significantly since January and she is now reading on a second grade level where she was barely at first grade level before.  The other day on the way home from the library, my child that "can't read" read a nonfiction book about turtles, cover to cover, with total accuracy and speed that I had never heard.  She's obsessed with getting a turtle and so she loves reading about them.

I'm glad to see us all with books in our hands more.

Are you reading anything good?  I need to be ready with my next pick before I finish my current one!

Books For Emerging Readers

Now that Josie is in school, all my teacher energy is needing a place to be focused.

It's hard to transition from being the master and creator of your child's education to a less active role.  Poor Gabe is getting a whole lot more instruction, but Josie is still getting her fair share.  One area I am honing in on is reading.

Josie was a late starter when it comes to reading.

Man.  Do I ever hate saying that.  Because, hello, she's seven.  And reading earlier than that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be a genius.  I know that, really, I do.  However, it is so easy to fall into the comparison trap when your friends children are reading chapter books while your precious offspring is struggling through Henry and Mudge.

*side note, we love Henry and Mudge and that series is what helped Josie break into real reading.

Just this past Summer, Josie had some major reading breakthroughs.

It was like a light bulb switched on and the girl could read.  It was such an exciting time.  Since than, I've held fast to having her read for 20 minutes each day.  The book choice never mattered to me as long as she was reading.  Although I knew she had the tools she needed to read chapter books like so many of her peers, she was just more drawn to easy readers.  After the rough start she had, I really think those books gave her the confidence she needed to want to keep reading.

Just recently, Josie has started to show some interest in chapter books.

Trouble was, most chapter books are just too long and she is seriously intimidated by the length of each book.  I had the hardest time finding books that were in that were indeed chapter books, but still gentle enough to not break her new found love of reading.

So rather than have you need to do all the hunting that I did, I thought I would share a few of the books that have been hits around here.

(See my list of book recommendations over on the East Valley Moms Blog by clicking here)

TOS Review - Logic of English

What Is It?

Logic of English is a curriculum company that is striving to make the very complicated english language a little easier to understand.  Logic of English gives the WHY behind the english language.  They do this through very well worded teacher guides and uses a wide variety of activities that will appeal to all the different learning styles that children have.

For this review, we were sent the Logic of English Essentials program, spelling rules flash cards, basic phonograms flash cards, two sets of game cards, as well as a download of the Phonics with Phonograms app for the IPad.  This program is recommended for children ages 8 to adult.

Essentials will teach your student to read, write, and spell correctly.  The manual offers multiple schedules for different ages and skill levels and has scripted lessons making it extremely user friendly.

How We Used It:

We got our package right as Josie finished up last year's spelling and reading programs.  I took a few days to look through it all and decided how we were going to use it and then we jumped in.

Like any review, it takes me a little extra effort to figure out where we should start.  Since the program is for kids that are a little older then Josie, I decided to go ahead and start at the beginning even if that meant we would be doing some reviewing.  I also decided to let her go at her own pace and not worry too much about whether or not we completed a lesson each week.

Each lesson is broken up into three sections.  The first section introduces the phonograms and really does a great job explaining all the details about them.  The second section introduced the week's spelling rules along with the spelling words.  And the last section introduced the grammar rule.  Each section builds on the others and incorporates what is learned into each part.

The chapters that we made it through during the review period were normal letter sounds (which she knows but practice never hurts) and the most commonly used letter teams.  I would read the lesson and use the flash cards that were recommended and she would complete each section of the workbook.  The lessons were very straight forward and easy to teach.  There is a lot of variation and review.  I felt like each lesson really taught her new information.

 I really liked the spelling sections.  Josie enjoys spelling and these lessons were very easy to teach.  Again, the lessons are scripted and follow the same steps for spelling tests in each chapter which made it easy on both of us.  I love how they made it ok to offer extra help.  I am not a great speller by any means, so learning these rules was very helpful to me.

The grammar sections that we covered taught normal parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, plurals).  We haven't covered any parts of speech so this was all new information.  The program did an excellent job of breaking it into little pieces so that it wasn't overwhelming.  Much like the spelling section, I learned a lot of the "why"s right along with Josie.

All of the lessons are scripted so if you're more comfortable having the lesson completely laid out for you, it's all there.  I loved that!

The Student Workbook had all the sheets that Josie needed.  This book is very thick and well made.  The pages are perforated, but are thick enough that I don't worry at all about the pages getting loose and falling out.  I love that all of her work for this program will be stored in one spot.

There is a lot of student writing as well.  Josie is working hard to get her handwriting where it needs to be and this was a great way to practice without just doing copywork.  Parts of the workbook, we did together, but there were a couple lessons in each section that she was able to do on her own.

The Spelling and Phonogram game book is excellent too.  This book is divided up into learning styles.  Josie learns really well through games and being active, so we tried out those extra activities.  They were really fun for her, but simple for me.  All the templates we needed for each game were right in the book.  I'm already looking forward to trying the tactile activities with Gabe this year as we start exploring letters and sounds.  This book could easily be adapted for all ages.

I used the app a few times a week to reinforce the phonograms, usually when we were in the car.

Even though Josie knows all her letter sounds and quite a few letter teams, I had her start on the first level.  The app very clearly states the letter sound and gives the student four choices to pick from.  The app gives all possible sounds for each letter, which I love.  Many of the apps that we have tried have given the basic sound but not all of them.

As the student progresses past each level, more sounds and letter teams are introduced.  Every once in awhile it throws in some from the starting levels.  The app is quick, simple, and effective.  I would compare this app to doing flash cards.  Josie liked playing it and I saw a noticeable difference in her memorization of the phonograms.

My Opinion:

Just from reading the introduction, I knew I was going to love this curriculum.

It covers so many topics and does so very well.  I loved that the lessons were scripted, making my job very easy.  I won't lie, I learned a lot during our lessons too.  I am very impressed with the entire package.

There were so many options for adding extra activities to the lessons.  This was a big bonus to me since Josie learns so well through games.  We have played Phonogram BINGO every week and she loves it. No matter what your child's learning style is, there are extra activities in the book that will work for them.

This curriculum is so complete.  It teaches grammar, spelling, phonics, reading, and writing skills.  On top of all that, it is easy to teach.  A year ago, I couldn't recite all of the phonograms and now I can easily do so.  Josie has learned a lot of the rules and reasons behind phonics in the past couple of weeks from this program.

I do feel like she is a little too young for the depth that this book goes into in future chapters.  I think the recommended age of 8 is probably very spot on.  My plan is to continue to use this but at a much slower pace then the schedules offered in the book.  We will do one lesson a week and just carry the remainder of the book over into second grade.

I love the app!  We have tried quite a few phonics apps to help get all the sounds and letter teams memorized and haven't found one that I liked.  This one was a winner.  The simple voice clearly stating all the sounds was great.  I'm a big fan of flashcards so this suited us very well.  I'm always onboard for getting some extra school in while we are on the go.  This app is a good one.

Product Details:

www.LogicofEnglish.com

Logic of English Essentials Manual - $95
Logic of English Essentials Workbook - $25
Spelling Rules Flash Cards - $15
Basic Phonograms Flash Cards - $18
Game Cards - $10
Phonics with Phonograms app - $2.99

TOS Review - Reading Kingdom

What Is It?

Reading Kingdom is an online reading program that utilizes games to teach children to read.  They focus on sequencing, motor skills, sounds, meaning, grammar, and comprehension.  By using this program, the company states that children can learn to read and write up to a third grade level.  The website states that this program is directed towards 4-10 year olds.

We were given a one year subscription to the program for this review.

How We Used It:

We used Reading Kingdom at the start of last year and it didn't work for us.  Josie had just started to figure out how to put sounds together to make words and wasn't reading at all yet.  She had also never used a computer before which made it difficult for her to maneuver the mouse to play the games.

Now that she is reading pretty well, I thought it would be good to give it another try.

The program starts out by having the child take a placement test. They ask that the parent not offer any assistance in taking the placement test so that they can accurately place them. The test was long, but Josie got through it much faster this year then last year. However, they still placed her at level one, which was way below her reading level. This level basically as the student find letters on the keyboard to match what's shown on the screen. I didn't feel like there was much reading instruction. She worked a couple days a week and never got past the first level. Josie just did not like this program.

My Opinion:

This program did not work well for us. Being placed at the lower level and then having the levels each be so long was frustrating for Josie. I would say level one was more of a typing style class then reading instruction.   I do think that typing is important, especially for this generation, so she did get some good material from it.

I feel that I should also mention that we don't do a lot of computer games. While she likes a couple of apps, she just isn't really into online learning. I think this was a big factor in her not enjoying the program.

I did love that she could work on it independently.  This was especially great since it is Summer and we don't do school everyday.  It did also show me that I'd like to spend some time teaching her keyboarding skills.

I have friends that also tried this program and their kids really loved it so I recommend reading some other reviews on The Crew website before making your choice.

Product Details:

www.ReadingKingdom.com
Subscription: $19.99 per month
* free 30 day trial on the site as well

 

TOS Review - LiteracySoft

What is it?

LiteracySoft is an app available for the iPad and iPhone that teaches reading and phonics to children.  There are 52 of lessons in the program starting with basic letters and working up to advanced blending.  Upon completion of this program, a student will be able to read at a 1st grade level.

This app is designed to allow students to learn independently and at their own pace.  Over the course of the program students learn all 44 letter sounds and their graphemes, over 400 vocabulary words, spelling practice, and speed drills.

How we used it:

We started our review of this app while we were on our two week vacation in Arizona.  Being away from home, this app came at the perfect time.  We started by using it in the afternoons and have continued using it daily for a little reading practice.

Josie and I went through the first few lessons together, but by lesson 3 she was able to do this app all on her own which I loved!  Each lesson follows the same order making it very easy for independent learning.  The first couple of activities in each lesson were pretty easy, basically learning letter or blend sounds that she already knew, from there she was quizzed on reading words, basic phrases, spelling, and reading longer sentences.  Before passing a lesson, she had a race to see how fast she could find words that were said by the app.

My biggest gripe with other apps we've tried was that I either had to sit with her to read the directions or that there was no way to go back if she didn't hear something.  This app has a "repeat" button right at the top of each page making it so easy for her to hear directions again if she needs to.  

She can also go back or jump over a lesson that's too easy by clicking the arrows.  I liked this for the letter sounds part that she already knows, but I did catch her skipping things she just didn't feel like doing too.  I would have loved to have been able to lock that feature to make sure she did each part.

The graphics are great and the sound is easy to hear.

My Opinion:

This is by far my favorite reading app we have used.  It covers a wide range of skills and Josie has been enjoying it.  The lessons are long enough to actually count as a good lesson and short enough that she could easily finish them in under 15 minutes.

I loved that she could do them independently and that it tracked where she was so that she could pick up right where she left off.

This app is well worth the price.  I plan to continue to use it over the Summer.

Product Details:
www.LiteracySoft.com Phonics & Reading with McGuffey app - $19.99 Purchase Here

TOS Review - ABeCeDarian

What is it?

ABeCeDarian Company is a company that produces reading instruction for kids ages 5 and up.  This reading program uses a multi sensory decoding approach and addresses the key areas of phonemic awareness, phonics, and fluency.  Students use workbooks, easy readers, and fables to practice all the skills they need to be efficient readers.

We were sent Level A1, Level A2, and Level B instruction books and student workbooks along with a set of 10 easy readers and Aesop's Fables.

How we used it:

This review came at the perfect time for us.  Josie is just about to finish up her current reading program and I've been wondering what direction to go next.  She is reading very well but I don't feel like she's quite ready to be done with basic instruction.  The program we are about to finish is meant to go until 2nd grade so I was having a hard time finding something that wasn't too easy for her.

ABeCeDarian offers multiple levels of instruction.  I was able to go to their site and see samples of each level to determine where Josie needed to start.  After having her take the free assessment on the website, we went with Level B which is meant for children reading at a 1st to 2nd grade level.  This level covers a lot of the things that have been a bit confusing (for Josie and me) in our current program, such as how one sound can be spelled a multitude of ways.  I knew we could use more practice at this level so we went with it and I'm so glad we did.

We've used this as our daily reading curriculum for the past 5 weeks.

After the first day I knew this was going to be great for us.  The workbook is well made and the directions were very clear.  The teacher's manual is scripted which makes teaching very easy.  These tricky spelling rules and multiple ways of spelling the same sound have been really hard for me to teach.  I loved having the right words to explain it right in the manual.

The material is taught using a series of activities.  Each unit has a new set of words and focuses on one sound and it's multiple spellings.  Josie started each lesson by sorting the words onto a chart based on the spelling.  From there we moved on to reading the words, reading sentences, and reading chains.

The reading chains were very neat.  These are a list of words where each word changes one sound.  Josie had to pay very close attention to each word to read it correctly.

The lessons were short enough that she didn't get bogged down, but through enough for her to really grasp the material.  I loved that each new lesson included a few words from the previous lesson to be sure the child is retaining information.  There are also worksheets online that you can download if your student needs more work in a certain area.

Level A had a ton of handwriting work in it too.  Level B does have some copywork, but not as much instruction as Level A.  I did appreciate that they worked some handwriting into the lessons.

Not everyone will care about this, but this is also a very travel friendly program.  We are currently on vacation and this was very easy to pack so that we could continue our reading lessons while we are here.  The program is divided into separate workbooks so I only had to bring the books we are on.  They aren't heavy and are sturdy enough that I didn't worry about them getting banged up.

* Our readers and the fables were lost by our postal service.  The company has been wonderful about making sure we get those books which was nice.  I can't wait to get them and start using them with Josie.  They are written to advance with her at each level making sure she won't get discouraged but is also challenged by each reading.  

My opinion:

This program included spelling, phonics, copywork, and reading in every unit making it a very complete reading program.

I love it.

In fact, I love it so much I can't wait to start Gabe on book A1 in a couple years.  It is child and teacher friendly and a great price.  Josie is enjoying it too!

Product Details:

Company Website: www.abcdrp.com

Teacher Manual A1 - $28.50
Student Workbook A1 - $12.25
Teacher Manual A2 - $28.50
Student Workbook A2 - $12.25
Set of 10 Storybooks - $21.50
Teacher Manual B1 - $25.50
Student Workbook B1 - $10.25
ABeCeDarian Aesop - $2.50

Socialized

My kids are homeschooled.

And like all homeschooling families, we get the question about socialization a lot.

I won't go into my long answer about how I don't believe that spending 8 hours in a room with children the same age as you covers socialization, but I will say that my kids are social.

Like, really social.

So I don't worry about their social skills.  But every now and then I like to throw in a day with our  homeschooling neighbors, full of crafts and games and snacks, and call it a day of socialization.

Kelsey has become an awesome friend over the past few months.  

I love hanging out with her and her brood of four boys.  Even if they do wear me completely out!

We had a lot of fun doing some Christmas crafting.  I had all of these on my to do list but art is the first thing I cut when we are short on time.  I loved getting to cross a bunch off in one day.

We made marshmallow snowmen.

Well, the oldest three made marshmallow snowmen.  Gabe and Cruz ate glue covered marshmallows.

Then we painted with Snow Paint.

Super easy: mix equal parts glue and shaving cream.  paint dries puffy.

Kelsey's newest enrollee is edible.

We made Gingerbread Playdoh.

The older three played our Gingerbread Sight Word game while the play-doh cooled off.

 And we wrapped it all up with some play-doh cookie making.

Would you believe we did all of that in two hours?

I was in my bed napping before Kelsey hit the end of our driveway!