Ryan's Reading Lessons

I  have taught all three of my older boys to read so far, well Ryan is still leaning but he is doing fantastic. People always ask me "how?" or "what program" etc I honestly have never used "a program" Teaching Ethan was an accident. He was in public school up through 1st grade but he learned to read full in kindergarten from what we did at home. I just read with them. Did letter and sound games. I read simple reader books, and I did do site word flash cards with two of them. But I do not do that any more. I guess my method is a combination of exposer and phonics. I do not introduce a phonics "rule" though a program and then teach words in that fallow that rule. I just read books and discuss the rule as it comes up. Starting with sounds letters make and then working my way through letter blends etc. Some might think this is confusing or how a child could keep up, but I have been blown away how well they learn and my guess is because they are learning though reading works in contacts of stories and book instead of just "memorizing rules" and then trying to use those rules to read. I hated reading as a child, and hated the rules, they did not make sense to me, and there were always words that did not fallow them, so I do not stress my kids learning them, but I dooo teach them, just though reading as they come up. 

 I did buy this program Delightful Reading through Simply Charlotte mason, and I enjoy it. I used it with Aaron some but he took off and did not finish it. I am using it more with Ryan, but I adapt it to make it work for us, but I really like it so far. We build a work, sound out the work and write it in his book. Here he is learning about Magic "E" words. (see I do teach the rules) and we build worlds with this rule, and then we will read books later and try to find words that fallow this rule. I guess you could say I do "use this program" but I do not fallow it to exact but I do use it. I also have the books a Parents guide to teaching reading, but I do not do that until after my kids are already reading fully on there own. I do go back and teach them the rules so they can be better able to figure out new words on there own. But I do it later when they are fully reading (age 6-7ish) so they are not feeling frustrated, but almost like tools to decoding - I hope that make sense.

 I have a bunch of work books and games, file folder games, work wheels etc. I think I have posted links some where here. I also use the Now I'm reading books. They like those, along with lots of other fun reading books that I read with them. I take turns reading they read a word or two then I read, then as they learn more, they read more. I will also have them repeat me sometimes too, a good skill.

 I am kinds of all over the place and go with the flow depending on the child. But it seems to work. I think the KEY is making it fun, going at their own pace and eliminating stress and pressure. I know after my fist two kids read so fast, for a while Ryan was really resistant, and I though - man this kid will never learn to read. But I just changed things up, prayed for him, and stepped back and did not pressure him and how he loves reading lessons. He also took a big jump into it when he turned 6 and really has a desire to want to read like his brothers. That really helped him wanting to do it because he sees he benefits not just because I am saying he needs to learn. Love the self motivation!

 Word wheel activity, and also a dot paint activity, I wrote some words (just letters for Dallin) and said them, and they put a dot on them when they found them. Just review words out of sentence context is a good skill too.

Love my sweet fast growing boys!

K and Pre K activities!

My favorite kind of activities for younger kids are things I can do and make with them, and engage and really enjoy them with, BUT then they will keep enjoying it for a while, while I get things done with the older two boys. And these two activities fit that mold. 

 Kool-Aid Play-dough- there are a million recipes on Pinterest I used what ever one I had the stuff for. My kids love this, it is soft and smells really yummy and had bright colors. If you kids would eat it then I guess it would not be so good- but my kids really enjoyed it.

 Then they will play and play with it for a while :) we also use it for school activities too, you can stamp numbers, letters, spelling words, math problems into play dough we use it a lot, then it gets dried up, and we go with out for a while until we make another batch. (12/2013)

I do not remember where I got this idea, I think Pinterest too. We had been learning about chemical reactions in our Real Science for kids program, so this was lots of fun. Just take a pan of baking soda. Then I got a bunch of containers fill them with vinegar and food coloring. I put a dropper in each color and let them at it. The loved the explosions that happened. Dallin would get all excited and say look! a Chemical reaction! Ha ha When they ran out of vinegar I gave them more until it was full of to much vinegar and would not react any more. 

 They loved it! Kept them intertwined for a while with the droppers it lasted a while. Great motor skill working with the droppers. I also told them if they poured it in, the activity would be over quick and they could not to it any more so they did not want that and were good about not pouring the colors in.

 They also had fun blending the colors in the explosions. (3/2014)

PreK and Kindergarten Activites

Homeschooling lots of children of different ages is really a challenge. I have read and listen to lots of tips on how to do it and why. They are all different and work well for those families, THAT is the wonderful thing about homeschooling. I have had weeks where I feel like I am sinking in a sea of dishes, laundry and piles of "to do" school stuff. Or where I just can't seem to get anything done because my younger kids are distracting me. 

 I have tried giving the younger kids things to do while I work with the older kids, and I have tried just having them tag along while they sit on the older kids stuff, and this works "some" but I still find they are happiest when they get their school time too. I do pre K and Kindergarten level activities (just for the younger two boys) 1-2 times a week. The other days through the week, they each get their reading time with mom where we read books then do a puzzle or quick game etc. For me I find my younger boys are much better about doing "busy bags" or playing or doing things on their own better if they get some time with me too. For us, I give the older two something they can go by themselves (first thing after our spiritual thought), while I play with the younger ones, Then They are much better behaved while I work with the older two. Most of these ideas/activites are from early in the year but I am just now getting them posted. 

 Here are a few things I have done with my younger boys. Ryan (picture one) is making a number line up to 20 creating something from Legos for each number on the line. GREAT activity lots of practice counting. We did this over time, not all the numbers in one day. Picture two is similar, these are beads on pip cleaners, then a sticky note with the number on top. Dallin did 1-10, Ryan did 11-20 again we did a couple each week, then reviewed each time we got the project out again. They really liked it.

 Ryan LOVED this activity, and Dallin helped too. I would give them a letter in this picture it was the better B and he went though the house finding things that started with that letter. I then put the words on pieces of paper and we sounded them out, to match the word to that item. I went with him searching,  but he found everything on his own.

 This is a really fun Lego Math game teaching greater then and less than. I give them a container of Legos, and start the sand timer, they build as fast as they can until the timer is out. Then we count how many each person has, then see who has greater or who has less. Dallin just learns to count and number recognition, Ryan is really learning the concept of greater and less.

 For Dallin after we counded his I would give him four options of cards and say "where is the number 10? and have him find that card, that matches the number of Legos we counted. I did this for Ryan too, even though he already knows them.

I try to keep things simple around here, I do not have tons of time to plan, print, cut out and do long fancy things. These things are easy, and do not takes lots of time, but when for me, I find when I spend that time with my little ones, they are happy they do not feel like they are being pushed aside for the older ones, and I feel happy because I get time to enjoy my little boys personalities before they are all grown up!