Last post, I shared some videos showing how Junior is learning to read using See and Learn Phrases by Down Syndrome Education. We demonstrated the first four steps of learning to read using sight words.
Today, I’m sharing videos of the last two steps and discussing why we’re breezing through with sight words instead of slogging through phonics.
Continue reading “Teaching Preschoolers with Down Syndrome to Read – Part 2 (And Why We’re not doing Phonics, Yet)” →
Here’s a project I recently completed for my third and fifth grader: I made a reading comprehension workbook for 20 saints stories from Anne Heffernan’s 57 Stories of Saints. When possible, I like to combine subjects. This workbook will allow my kids to learn about the inspiring lives of twenty saints while sharpening their reading comprehension skills. Take a look:
Continue reading “Reading Comprehension with 20 Saints” →
A little background….Mary and I met over 15 years ago in Tempe, Arizona when our husbands were in graduate school at Arizona State. We have been great friends for such a long time. God has blessed our families with kids who are the same age and sex and obviously, the call to homeschool. We now live in different states but try to get together several times per year. The kids disappear for the weekend, the husbands work on research, and Mary and I laugh, serve meals, and talk about all kinds of great stuff!
A few years ago we decided to meet weekly via FaceTime to work on writing. We wanted our oldest daughters especially to have more time together. What we didn’t realize was how effective our weekly meetings would be.
Continue reading “How We Use FaceTime to Improve Writing and Reading” →
When I look at the major Catholic homeschooling curriculum providers to see what they recommend for reading comprehension during the elementary years, I find a lot of variance. On one end of the spectrum, Mother of Divine Grace simply encourages narrations and discussions of books read, and on the other end, Kolbe Academy requires that their students answer in-depth chapter-by-chapter reading comprehension questions for classic novels. In the middle, Catholic Heritage Curricula and Seton offer reading comprehension workbooks. Seton also requires their registered students to write book reports.
With so much discrepancy, it is hard to know what is the best approach to reading comprehension. But here are some thoughts:
Mercy for Marthas