The School of Smooches has about 8 weeks left in the 2012/2013 school year…….yippee! Overall,we’ve had a very successful year. I decided to make some curriculum changes this year and simplify our history program. These have been some of the best academic changes for our School of Smooches students!!
Since Carlos finished up US History last year it was time to start back at ancient history (my favorite). But I didn’t feel like Carlos was ready and had the ability to do 5thgrade history, so I decided that our history class would be a combined class from Preschool (Ben) to 5th grade (Carlos) and it’s worked out fabulously! While this program is aimed at 1st/2nd grade it’s been fabulous because it’s very pictorial and done in story fashion rather than being more logical/analytical. And another benefit is that I only have to read one set of read-aloud books!!
Reading aloud is a great way to spend time with your kids, but it TAKES time, a lot of time. Carlos has his own grade level books to read to himself that coincide with the history we are learning (for example we are currently learning about ancient Rome, so Carlos is reading Mystery of the Roman Ransom).
But probably the best curriculum change that I made this year was with reading. Even though we are in our 7th year of homeschooling (is that possible?!?!?) I’ve not found a program for teaching reading that I’ve really liked, so with Jeremiah last year I just used bits and pieces of programs that I liked. For example, I liked the way A Beka teaches blending, so we use their blending book. I like the ease of Bob Books so we use those for early reading practice and later reading practice we’ve been using Hooked on Phonics books. Nothing wrong with any of these books/programs, but I never LOVED any of them.
Last year we started using All About Spelling. And I really liked their approach. In fact, Jeremiah learned more about reading from All About Spelling than from his other reading books. So this year I decided to spend the money and purchase the companion to All about Spelling called All About Reading. And let me tell you,I LOVE IT!!
Jeremiah, Natalie and Ben all started the first level this year. By Christmas Ben (at 4 years old) was reading 3 letter words!! Jeremiah’s reading has excelled and Natalie is reading very well too! She is my most motivated reader and will “read” books to herself. The program is teacher friendly, easy to use and I love the student workbook.
Since I have a lot of students to teach to read (4 at the beginning of the 2012/2013 school year), I decided to only get one student workbook and laminate the pages…..thus giving them a much longer life. It’s a little time intensive this year, but when I start next year with Ben it will be done and in a couple of years Jadyn will use them!
One of my favorite parts of the student workbook is the “Flipper Books”. These little books are a great way for new readers to get fluency practice, but feel like they are reading a book…… and they are not overwhelming……since each “flipper book” has only 6-15 words. The first “flipper book” has three letter words, so Ben loves reading that book. You flip up a letter and use the letter below to create a new word. With the three letter “flipper books” all three letters “flip” so you can create a lot of different words. With some of the later “flipper books” only some of the letters “flip” depending on what suffix or prefix is being learned with that lesson.
I also love the fluency practice pages because not only does it provide a great way to improve reading skills,but vocabulary too. As my kids are reading the words, we talk over what those words mean and how to use them in a sentence. The fluency practice pages also have sentences,but they are broken out into two parts before the student reads the entire sentence,which has really helped improve my kids reading “flow”.
All About Reading also comes with three readers for each level. The books have beautiful illustrations that don’t necessary give away the story and both Natalie and Jeremiah are always eager to read the next story. In fact they often will read ahead!!
So, if you are looking for a great reading program for your young student, I highly recommend All About Reading.
House of Smooches 