A few days ago I was reading Tom Sawyer to my 8 year old son. I have recently moved into the train of though commensurate with the ideas expressed by Micheal Clay Thompson. I have started to focus on reading classics to my children. These classics are designed to increase their vocabulary, …
My children have enjoyed several books as we are winding up this school year. We stay away from books designed for reading classes and go with real books. My six year old has been reading several books. The Beginner’s Bible is a book put out by Zonderkidz and has over 500 …
I have been using Sequential Spelling with my second grader this school year. Sequential Spelling teaches spelling according to patterns rather than rules. After the first 40 days I was a little apprehensive about the program. My son had scored a 70% on the 40 day evaluation. While 70% isn’t poor, it …
My six year old mistakenly posted on this blog instead of his own. He really enjoys blogging about his favorite topic – Roblox. I don’t correct his spelling or sentence structure at this point. I utilize the whole language approach and just encourage him to write. Here was his post: …
Copywork is commonly used in some homeschooling circles. Basically it is a child copying words, sentences, or a passage into a separate book to practice handwriting, grammar, and sentence structure. While I don’t use copywork for grammar or sentence structure, I do use it for handwriting practice. I do use …
As we progress through the school year we get to enjoy more books. I prefer using actual books rather than basal readers. My younger son is reading through Sonlight’s Language Arts 1 readers while my older son is reading some chapter books. I selected his books based on his interest, …
Last week my Kindergarten aged son taped a sign on a bathroom door. My second grader then proceeded to write the interpretation in parenthesis at the bottom. There was danger in the bathroom, apparently. My five year old had been playing around in the bathroom. The bathroom floor was wet …
I am using Bob Jones English 3 with my oldest son this year. Bob Jones English covers grammar and writing. I really love the thoroughness of the grammar, but we are on the second unit of writing right now and I’m not loving the writing section. Neither does my son. …
Last school year I stumbled on a great resource for spelling and phonics. YouTube. YouTube has tons of Electric Company videos that teach spelling patterns or rules. The catchy tunes really help cement some concepts. I put the videos on a couple times a month while my boys are eating …
My five year old is using the Write About Me book this year as a tool to express his thoughts on paper. He typically completes about 2 pages per week, but would like it if I gave him more to do. He also writes on his blog. See here for …
