|
|
A Home Business WorksHomeschool-Success.com |
Language Arts - Reading, Writing and Spelling |
|||||
I think one of the things I have noticed most about language development is how different each child progresses and the importance of going at the child's own speed of readiness. My oldest was reading before Kindergarten yet writing was a challenge because he knew was good writing was and his hand strength and spelling skills couldn't keep up with his thoughts. We focused on drawing to develop fine motor skills and small amounts of writing done with purpose and done well. What worked best for him was Handwritng Without Tears, Draw Write Now and drawing from Ed Emberly books. My middle daughter on the other hand was writing much earlier, but not reading very much. She likes the Explode the Code books, which would have been torture for my son due to the way writing and spelling is incorporated into reading. Each child is different and the wonderful thing about home education is that you can taylor the activities you choose to the needs and interests of each child. Here are some books I recommend:
Spelling We have recently started using a free online spelling program called SpellingTime. My kids really like it and you can either use the word lists already in the program or create your own. I made the mistake of creating a classroom since that was a option for homeschoolers. You only want to do that if you have children at the same grade level or using the same spelling lists. If you have children at different levels or using different spelling lists, just create individual accounts. It is set up for daily spelling. The children complete an activity using that week's spelling words and earn points to spend a little time on educational games within the site. You can look up their score on the pop quiz and end of the week test. Right now I would advise using a grade appropriate spelling list like Kathryn Stout's Natural Speller or use word that your children are misspelling in their writing. The lists in SpellingTime are random rather than grouped by sound or spelling rules, which is better for children to learn the spelling. The owner told me she agrees and plans to change the spelling lists soon. You can set up your children's free accounts at:
Phonics I used How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with my son when he was four yrs. old and he went right from there to reading books like Nate the Great and was reading 100 - 200 page books by the time he was six. That was all the phonics instruction he needed and, at nine yrs. old, reads quicker and with better recall and comprehension than most adults. However, my daughter
became frustrated with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
about a third of the way through. We have tried various things that
have been better for her. She is a bit of a perfectionist so needs
to go at slower pace and reviewing to build her confidence. Word Mastery by Florence Aikin This is a great book
printed in 1913 that can be downloaded for free on Don Potter's
website. Someone gave him a copy of it and he has made it available
to homeschoolers or others since it is no longer under copyright
law. It is one of the recommended books on the Old Fashioned Education
website, a complete free curriculum. It begins with letter sounds
and then groups word families together so children are reading simple
words and progress as each new sound is introduced. These are books that can be downloaded for free. Each book covers a sound or phoneme. For example, Book one covers short "a", Book 7 long vowels, Book 12 plurals and adv. "r" controlled vowels, etc. They are meant for the parent and child to read together. The parent reads the black writing and the child reads the words in red. Starfall This is a free online phonics program. It includes books and sound games and progresses in levels of difficulty. My daughter really likes this because she can review prior books and gains confidence by how easy they are now and then moves on to more challenging books. The child can work through this independently since they can click on a word they do not know to hear it sounded out. Each letter changes to red as the sound is made and then the entire word is heard.
|
|||||
|
©2002
- 2008 A Home Business
Works & Wendy Mills All rights reserved. |
