If you’d have asked me I would have said I was taught phonics as a kid. I vividly remember being sent to the hallway to finish my paper because I couldn’t decide if I should circle “p” or “d”– was it a dog or a puppy!?
So when homeschool curriculum contained most of the phonics I remembered I never questioned it. Then a friend shared her recent discovery of The Logic of English. I’m pretty sure my first reaction was to laugh. Like there is any logic in English!
Turns out I was wrong.
English follows many rules. The problem was I just didn’t know them.
He loves spelling now. Who loves spelling?
Immediately upon learning these rules, however, I knew it was exactly what my struggling reader needed. He thrives on logic. Case in point, our second (or was it third?) curriculum I tried with him taught students to memorize “the,” pronounced as “thu”. Months later he still struggled with “thu”. But when The Logic of English taught him to pronounce it “thee” and gave him a rule for why, he was fluently reading the word within days.
The company I buy the rest of my curriculum from has a simple program for reading that doesn’t include a kit with bells and whistles. While it’s true that reading may come naturally to some, and buying all the extras might not be necessary for all families, I would recommend this program to anyone. We use the teacher’s textbook which gives you word for word instructions, teaching tips, extra games, multi-sensory ideas, etc., and the workbook which is simple, colorful, and very, very doable. We also purchased the phonogram cards and two sets of the game cards (one cursive, one print). I use the doodle boards (see the first pic of Brett) from my usual company since they are much cleaner than dry erase markers! 😛
There are also lots of little pieces, like the fluency word cards and game boards from the workbook, that I laminate and use over and over, so I bought this plastic box from Target to hold all of our stuff. I love it. I call out “time for Dragon book” (because now on our third, or is it fourth? curriculum my kids despise “phonics”) grab the box and we all gather on the carpet. I did book A with both kids together (ages seven and four) but Brett is ready to move quickly now and Anna is, after all, only four, so I let her listen to book B and then review old lessons.
Snuggling on the carpet with hands-on cards, boogie boards, laminated readers, and the occasional race is now a family favorite. Handwriting and spelling are included in the curriculum so I get to check off three subjects from my daily planner. LOE also offers the choice between print and cursive and as an added bonus we are also learning with better handwriting because, who knew, cursive is easier for kids, fine-motor wise.
I’m also amazed at all I’ve learned while teaching this curriculum. I’m actually a better speller, and we haven’t finished the second book! (Admittedly it wouldn’t be that hard to make me a better speller…)
In fact, if you asked me now I’d say no. I was never taught phonics as a child.
I’m so glad I can teach it to my kids.
(In fact I’m so glad I’m writing this post just because. I received nothing from Logic of English.)
Daddy's Tractor 