Teaching my kiddo phonics and how to read

...is WAY more fun than I anticipated.  I must admit that teaching him to read was a very daunting task when I first realized that if I chose to home school him for Pre-K and Kindergarten the task would fall to me.  Reading, after all, is a basis for learning anything and everything!  I knew I wanted him to be a great reader and not just a decent reader.  I wanted to instill in his curious little brain an understanding of WHY words worked and not just and understanding of what words looked like.  I knew I wanted him to learn to read phonetically and not by sight words.  I totally believed that someone else should be teaching him this important thing.  I agonized over my selection of curriculum, but finally landed on Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons when a close friend suggested it.  I hated the weight of this major milestone sitting on my shoulders.  I dreaded the day by day lessons and felt utterly under qualified to even be attempting this task.  The "helps" the book offered didn't seem clear or helpful and I was constantly second guessing my ability to teach him to read {let me insert here that I needed a major attitude check during this time and the Lord was working on me and my lack of trusting Him to give me the understanding and the ability to do this task}.  Then we got to lesson 6 and he read his first word - me.  I was hooked.  My baby, my four year old had actually phonetically sounded out and read his first word!  He turned five in October and his desire to learn to read deepened during a break that we necessarily took from our reading lessons.  He has been locating words in library books and can successfully read Bob Books that are focused on the sounds he has learned. - currently those sounds include m, long e, s, short i, th, t, d, and short a.  He is reading short sentences and today we will finish up lesson 16.  I hope to get through 2 lessons a week from now through Christmas.  His enthusiasm and excitement to learn to read keeps me going and I am very thankful that the Lord brought me to a breaking point and made me face my fears and repent of my lack of trust in His abilities!  I can teach my child to read because "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength." (Phil 4:13)

Kindergarten Curriculum

I am planning to continue using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons as our reading curriculum; however, I read an interesting article recently that has made me re-evaluate if I should be concerned with teaching Asher to read right now.

I am considering using Math U See: Primer as our math curriculum for the year.  I'd love feedback if any of you have used it.  Did you like it?  Was the Primer a good entry-level math?   I tried using the Bob Jones K-5 math last year with Asher, but it is specifically written for use in a classroom and was not an effective choice for home schooling.  I am so glad we had a free copy of it since my husband was the illustrator - no money down the toilet on that choice. 

We received Asher's Unit 1 Reading List for Faith Academy.  From September - November we will be working our way through these books (all of them can be found at your local library or on Amazon: 

• Selected Biblical Passages in the Old Testament - especially from the books of Genesis and Exodus
• The Nile River by Allan Fowler
• Who Built the Pyramids? (Starting Point History)by Jane Chisholm
• Walk With Y'Shua Through the Jewish Year by Janie-Sue Wertheim and Kathy Shapiro
• The God Around Us by Mira Pollack Brichto
• On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by Cathy Goldburg Fishman

Is it really time for kindergarden?

I thought it would be fun and challenging to create a blog for me to document our family's educational adventure - especially since our adventure with "school" is about to start.  

I first need to explain that I view "education" and "school(ing)" as two separate ideas although I do believe they are closely intertwined.  

To me, education is not something I can choose to do or not to do.  I am educating my children.  I educate them daily by example, by instruction, and by expectations.  Secondarily and like it or not, my kids are being educated by the world in which they live.  Right now their world is very small, but I am very aware that the size of their world, the things they are exposed to, the people the meet, the observations they make in a public setting, expands a little bit every day.  The main reason I have chosen to be a stay-at-home mom is so that I am the primary educator of my children.  I view school(ing) as something that is limited to a specific period of time (whether that be K-12th grade, college, grad school or beyond) and as a place where specific educational ideas are taught (reading, writing, math).

My oldest is about to start the adventures of kindergarten.  Last year for his "pre-school" we were involved in Classical Conversations and he did a fantastic job.  I enjoyed the year tremendously as I was able to tutor his abecedarian (meaning "student of the abc's) class.  This year he is enrolled to attend a supplemental school called Faith Academy.  He will attend this school once a week from 9-3 being taught history, geography, science, art and Bible.  This school exists to support home-schooling parents in schooling their children and was started by two home schooling moms we know.  The school uses Tapestry of Grace - a classically-based curriculum - as their curriculum.  This year we will be in Cycle 1 of Tapestry of Grace's 4-cycles which will cover Creation through the Fall of Rome.  We will work from home the rest of the week covering things he learned in school and working on math and reading.  I don't plan to make "school" the central purpose of our week.  I want my son to enjoy learning and will be looking for ways to feed his mind, his body, and his soul in creative ways.   

My middle child, also a boy, will be attending Faith Academy for pre-school.  He will go every Monday from 9:30-12.  At home I intend to let him enjoy his year as a 3- and 4-year-old (his birthday is in January), but I do plan to work with him on some basic life skills, to continue to instill in him a love reading by reading lots to him, and to let him explore his love of swords, knights, dragons, and castles.

My baby, a nearly two-year-old little girl, will also be learning.  Right now she's learning how to use the potty, how to clean-up her toys, how to hold crayons, how to speak to people, and how to share.

My job as teacher started the day my children were born.  My job just gets harder now that they need to learn specific things to help them excel in whatever God has created them to do as they grow.