Logic Of English ~ Foundations A Curriculum Review

We have just begun our second year of home school with Hannah and she is now in Kindergarten. I realize when I am working with her just how much she has grown up the past year. So much has been learned and she has retained a lot of the information. We are only on day two and she already seems to be learning so much...hopefully school will still be fun for her in three months. Learning how to read and write has been key for her. The preschool curriculum I used was very intense and by the time she finished with Pre-K, she could read (very roughly) small, 5 page books, count to 100, knew her ABC's forwards and backwards and could write her entire name. She really hit some major milestones...I was thrilled today when we were at the doctor for her physical and they asked her if she knew her whole name and she did. :) It is nice to see that retention of what you teach pays off.

Today, I am going to introduce you to a curriculum that uses a multi-sensory approach to learning how to read, write and spell and this curriculum is called Logic of English. They offer programs for different grade levels and Foundations A was the set that interested me the most, because it is geared towards children ages 4-7 years of age. This curriculum is based on 74 basic phonograms and 30 spelling rules (really, the English language is a tough one to learn!!) that explain 98% of English words. I always hated English when I was in school and now I know why. :) Logic of English was founded by Denise Eide when she saw her own children struggling with reading and writing and I love companies that are formed out of a mother's desire to help her children. Here is a bit more information about Denise, taken from Logic of English's website...

Denise Eide

Denise Eide is the author of the multiple award-winning book, Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common Sense Approach to Reading, Spelling, and Literacy, and The Logic of English series of curriculum and learning materials. She is passionate about changing how reading is taught for ALL students.Though she studied for her masters degree at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, has taught EFL at the University of Pereslavl, Russia, and taught adult literacy in the United States, it was when her own children struggled with learning to read that she discovered the rules and phonograms developed by Dr. Orton. She immediately recognized how this vital information would have revolutionized learning to read and spell for her adult students and watched it transform the lives of her own children. In order to spread the great news that English is not riddled with exceptions, she put together a short presentation called the Logic of English and began speaking to teachers and parents. It was at this time that she put her hand on the heartbeat of the literacy crisis.

I was very excited when I was given the opportunity to review the Logic of English Foundations A curriculum and was even more excited to see how Hannah did with the material.

So, for this review I was sent the following items...

• Foundations A Teachers Manual ($38)
• Manuscript Workbook ($18)
• The Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript Chart ($9)
• Basic Phonogram Flash Cards ($16.20)
• Manuscript Tactile Cards ($25.20)
• Red Manuscript Phonogram Game Cards ($9)
• Blue Bookface Phonogram Game Cards ($9)
• Student Whiteboard ($10.80)
• I also received the Phonograms App ($2.99)

When I first saw all that was included, I was immediately overwhelmed...it seemed like alot to handle so I just took it day by day to see what my daughter's interest level would be. I don't push her, but I do make her do things she doesn't enjoy because school is not always fun...this curriculum looked like something Hannah would enjoy.

The student workbook is full of colorful drawn pictures as well as photographs. I think that using real photos can really help to draw a child in and connect them to what they are learning. I loved thumbing through the book and looking at these colorful pages. I also like the simplicity of the lessons...Hannah was really good at learning and saying the compound words. 

I found that The Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript Chart was very helpful to me because it gave me a way to properly explain how a letter is formed when written. This is something I struggle with...being able to articulate to Hannah how to do things. If it isn't spelled out, I am not creative enough to come up with my own explanation in a way that Hannah will understand. I love this chart for that reason. Within this chart you will find instructions on how to write both upper and lower case letters, as well as a plethora of other letter "styles" (slash letters, roll letters, kick letters, etc.) I had never heard of these other styles before Logic of English so this was totally new for me.

I wish you could have heard me open the package of Manuscript Tactile Cards...I was totally into these! What these cards do is give your child an extra sensory tool to learn how letters "feel" when properly written. The red letters feel like sand paper! So, when explaining how to write a letter, I took Hannah's hand in mine and had her finger-trace each letter. She would grin from ear to ear when we would do this and I knew it was sooo good for her to have this. I had a homeschool friend visit the other day and she was floored when she saw these...she told me that she had made her own once upon a time! That is how effective these cards are. Hannah definitely loved these and I am excited to use these with my son when he is in school as he is more of a sensory learner than Hannah. Being able to TOUCH the letters and FEEL the strokes is a huge benefit. 

The Teacher's Manual is laid out beautifully. Again, I need structure when I teach and this book gives me just what I need to properly instruct my child. The beginning of each lesson has an objective and also tells you what you will need for the day's lesson. I love how there are clear phrases that I say to my daughter and how the book gives me answers that she may give me back...it also tells me what the correct answer will be so I won't have to wonder if she was right or not. 

There are also tips and hints found on different areas of the pages so if you get stuck or have a child who seems to be having trouble with certain things, you can refer to these little colored blocks and find solutions. I really liked this because it helped me to go a bit further in some areas with Hannah. 

One thing this curriculum really uses to aid in writing is the use of strokes. I will admit that these were very difficult for Hannah. To her, it was just doodling...I am not sure if that was the goal when this method was developed but some of the strokes have to look just so and when Hannah was done with her practice, many of her strokes looked nothing like they should have. 

Nonetheless, she practiced her little heart out and tried to get it right. When the strokes began to look like stick people, we moved on to the next part of the lesson. :) I LOVE the whiteboard too, the lines are nice and big and she can really work easily without paying alot of attention to detail. This really comes in handy. 

There was one part of this curriculum that I cannot say enough good about...learning about "voiced" and "unvoiced" sounds/letters. A voiced sound is when you say a sound and can feel the vibration of the sound in your voice box. When we did this part, I would have Hannah put her hand on my throat to feel the difference. Unvoiced sounds would cause the voice box to be still...no vibrations. She also learned how to describe to me what her mouth does when she says the letter "P" and "T", among other letters. One of the tools you use to teach this is a small, hand-held mirror. I think this was Hannah's favorite part of the entire lesson. 

The Phonograms App is a nice tool to have in addition to the student workbook as it helps you to actually hear the sounds that you are trying to teach. There are also games that the student can play to help them identify the correct sound that the phonogram makes. Hearing, seeing and then touching the phonogram makes the entire learning process much more fun and I think I used this app more than Hannah did! Understanding the proper way to pronounce phonograms is important and this app comes highly recommended if you are doing the Foundations courses from Logic of English.

So, all in all we have been enjoying using Foundations A from Logic of English. I think that there is a lot to this curriculum but that is only because they give you everything you need to properly and effectively teach your child. The price is a bit steep for me but for someone who has a child that is really struggling to grasp English, it would definitely be a wonderful teaching tool that I would recommend. The Logic of English can be found on Facebook as well as on Twitter so if you are interested in investigating more about this company, you certainly have some wonderful options available to you. Be sure to check out other reviews from my other Crew mates who have also had the opportunity to review Logic of English...click the banner below to see these additional reviews.

Preserve Home School Memories With Picaboo Yearbooks!

Even before I was a mother, I loved taking photos and using those pictures in photo albums and scrapbooks. The many missions trips I took are now preserved beautifully in handmade scrapbooks and I love looking back at those memories safely tucked away for easy viewing. Now that I am a mom, I have continued on with my scrap booking and each one of my children has a scrapbook from their first year. It takes some time to do these books but it is well worth the effort. Being that we now home school, we have yet another big part of our lives that can be preserved via pictures and scrapbooks and I have taken full advantage of that. I have just this week completed my daughter's Pre-K and it feels GOOD to be done! I also am very pleased that we have finished and she progressed so well. Homeschooling can make you feel like you are missing out on things that public educated children receive...like graduation ceremonies and yearbooks; until now.

I am a home school graduate and never had a yearbook. It is NOT silly to have a yearbook for your family's home school and I am here today to introduce you to Picaboo Yearbooks! This is a company that allows schools - public, Christian and home school to create their very own customized yearbooks...something that I had never dreamed of having for my own children.

For the purpose of this review, I was given the opportunity to create a 20 Page Softcover Yearbook and I took my ideas to the Picaboo Yearbooks website and began to let my creative juices flow. Before I started anything, I watched the tutorial that is offered on the site. I had tried to give it a go on my own first, but quickly realized that this would take a bit of learning first. 

The first thing you need to do is create a book and then label your sections. You can use whatever section names you wish such as Field trips, Writing Class, etc. These category titles won't be printed in your book but are just guidelines to keep you organized. I did have problems adding more pages to each section though and still don't know exactly how to do that. When you are setting up the sections, you choose ahead of time how many pages you want for each section. Well, when I started my project I had no idea how many pages I would want for each section so when I got into the book and started designing, I realized there were some sections that I wanted more pages for and some that I wanted less. Changing that seemed impossible and so I just added extra sections at the end.

Next, you upload the images you want to use and put them in the different sections. One thing that I struggled with was figuring out how to move images from one section to another. For instance, I had some pictures in the wrong section and wanted to move them but could not figure out how. I played with the application for awhile and finally figured it out. Watching the tutorial helped some but I still dealt with a bit of confusion. Once you have organized your pictures you can get to work designing your pages. As you can see in the photo above, I have all my pictures for those two pages on the bottom of the screen. You can pick out different layouts, backgrounds and fonts to use and this is where I had the most fun! :) There are many MANY backgrounds to choose from and so you can really customize your pages to fit the photos and your "tastes".

Here is an up-close photo of two pages from my Yearbook. One feature that I loved was when it came to moving around the pictures, you would get notified if your picture was out of the printable area. This really helps to prevent your pictures getting chopped off or cropped. As I would move a picture around, the areas that would not be printed would highlight yellow so I knew I had to rearrange my pictures/text differently. For schools, Picaboo Yearbooks allows you to have multiple people working on the yearbook at one time so you can really experience diversity and personality in each section.

Designing each page was SO MUCH FUN. :) It brought back so many memories of our first year of home school (which is a monumental accomplishment for me) and it feels good to now have these memories all in one place to look at in the years to come. I now want to show you some of my favorite pages of my year book. :)

This is the front and back of my Yearbook. I chose the background, font size and type and also the text. I love how it turned out!

On this page, I was able to document some of Hannah's days of writing. Teaching a child to learn how to write is such a wonderful feeling, I wanted to remember that. Her concentration and focus was adorable! I really liked this page's background because it looks like a child's writing.

This was also a fun page because it shows how we utilized the iPad for certain subjects...here she is writing letters on our handwriting app. 

This is quite possibly my favorite page of the entire book. Hannah was having one of "those" days and I happened to capture her mood in a photograph.(This also proves the importance of documenting the good along with the bad...it is all memorable!) We had MANY of those days and this just goes to show that being a homeschooler is not always easy but we do make it and survive the hardest of days! :)

These two pages were fun to create only because they show our first days of home school and the transition from homeschooling in the old house to doing school in our new house...an important time of our life that I want to look back on fondly. 

Last but not least, I wanted a really good final page for my thoughts about the school year. I found this amazing background that and I was able to type right in it, giving a black board look. Isn't it cute?!? I wanted a place for me to reflect on the year and give honor and glory to God...for it is HIS strength and grace that saw us through our very first year of home school! I am THRILLED with my Picaboo Yearbook. I would love to get one for each year of home school because I believe it is truly a wonderful way to record and preserve your school memories. Cherishing these years is so important because they fly by so quickly.

Pricing for a yearbook identical to the one I received is $8.49 with additional pages costing $.22 each. You can get a FREE eYearbook as well! Not bad! The only thing I don't like is that shipping is $10.99...EEK! I think that shipping could be a bit cheaper as this book is super light and really would not honestly cost much to ship. **UPDATE** Shipping is now $8.99, which sounds so much better! :)

You can check out other review for Picaboo Yearbooks by clicking the banner below. My fellow Crew mates have some wonderful reviews and if you are still on the fence about if you want one or not, check out these reviews...I am sure you will be VERY excited about creating your very own Yearbook after reading what they have to say! :)

Cate & Levi Hand Puppet Review

My children LOVE to play. Recently, I have discovered that they just love to play with puppets and better yet, they love to see me make a puppet move and talk. I find that using a puppet helps with home school and my daughter really enjoys taking instruction from a puppet rather than mom. Go figure. It is odd, but works well and helps take the monotony out of our school day. Sometimes, using a puppet helps my children do simple chores...encouragement from a puppet is much more motivating and they will do anything to please a cute puppet!

Several weeks ago I was made aware of the fact that Cate & Levi (an online store that carries toys, clothing and accessories for children) had come out with some new hand puppets! I was so excited about these puppets simply because I know how much fun they are for my children and how great it is to use them for tools of encouragement. Before I continue though, here is a little bit more about Cate & Levi...a Canadian based company...

The Cate & Levi Collection is HANDMADE at my studio in Toronto, Canada. Together with my talented production team, I oversee every aspect of this collection. All the materials are sourced as close to home as possible. This process cuts down on shipping and reduces our carbon footprint. The choice of reclaimed wool reduces demand for new materials that require both water and oil for production. My goal is for these items to leave the softest possible pawprint on our planet.

No two Cate & Levi products will ever be the same. Each one is made from reclaimed wool whose colors and textures are individually selected. Not only is this process environmentally responsible, but it ensures that each animal is truly a one of a kind creation never to be duplicated. Each item is as unique as the child who adopts it.

It is important for me to set a good example for my child, to work in a highly creative and responsible fashion, and to produce long lasting items that can be today's plaything and tomorrow's keepsake. I am building a company my family can be proud of. Ten percent of my profits will be donated to funds that help children in need.

~Joshua Title, Owner and Dad

I don't know about you but I love it when parents take the bull by the horns and start businesses like this one. It just makes it that much more valid and authentic. I truly have a deep appreciation for companies like Cate & Levi that are started out of a need for something better. 

So, for this review I was sent a Duck Hand Puppet and while it is a bit unusual looking, it has grown on me and my children and is actually quite cute. :) To me, he kind of looks like a dinosaur, doesn't he?? I know he is a duck though but his coloring truly makes him look like a dinosaur. Ha ha!

Anyway, this hand puppet is made out of reclaimed wool and is very soft. It stretches to fit any hand and the beak is slightly floppy for extra character. We named our puppet "Fred" and he helped us with school today...he even wrote on the white board with a marker! :) Oh, how wonderful it was to have the extra help today. It was a tough day at school until Fred showed up. 

After school, Hannah was VERY excited to have a chance to play with Fred and it was really cute to hear her making him talk. Her and Jacob took turns with him until it was lunch time and let me tell you, getting them to put him down so they could eat their lunch was a chore. It is nice to have toys, but to have toys that the children don't want to stop playing with is wonderful!! 

Each Hand Puppet from Cate & Levi retails for $25.00 and you can choose from many different animals. Their newest puppets are a shark, horse, dragon, elephant, kangaroo and of course, the duck. I think all of these puppets are cute in their own, unique way and am really digging the duck right now. He's super cute!

If you would like to learn more about Cate & Levi and the other items they carry in their store, be sure to check them out online and also on their social media platforms...Facebook and Twitter. Stop by and let them know you heard about them here and give them some love. 

So, in my opinion...the new Hand Puppets from Cate & Levi are so great! They each have their own character and I love that. My children are really enjoying playing with the duck puppet we received and I am looking forward to using him in school as a teaching aid...who would have thought a puppet would end up being this teacher's best friend? Check out Cate & Levi today...you will be so glad that you did!

Disclaimer: I received no monetary compensation for this post. I did receive a free Cate & Levi Hand Puppet for review purposes. All quotes and stock photos are from the Cate & Levi website and email.  All thoughts and opinions are 100% mine.

LiteracySoft ~ Phonics and Reading with McGuffey App Review

My daughter is four and a half years old and we are currently doing Pre-K with her. She was a bit tough at first when it came to learning the hows and whys about homeschooling but she has finally caught on and is doing VERY well. Being that this is my first child that I am homeschooling, there is so much that I need to learn and it seems that the expectations for my four year old are high. Curriculum can be demanding but that can be a good thing as it really keeps me on my toes. Hannah is more than half way through her school year (we got a late start) and she has been doing a lot of pre-reading activities and I am shocked at how much I thought she could not do but is doing already. Who would have thought that a four year old could read??? I certainly didn't.

Today, I am going to introduce you to an app from a company that is called LiteracySoft.  The name of this app is Phonics and Reading with McGuffey and it retails for $19.99. Phonics and Reading With McGuffey is geared towards learning how to read and also, learning the phonics that goes along with reading skills. When I first found out about this app I was very excited simply because I have a new reader here in my house.

When you first open the program, you are given the opportunity to add users. In this case, I am going to be putting in my child's name. Each time you go to use this app, you can select which user is currently going to be using it. I like this because you can keep each child separate and they can actually pick out their own section. 

Once you have chosen your user, you then can go ahead and pick out where you want to start your lessons. I like this because I can pick different lessons. If my child has already done a lesson and it is not advanced enough, I can jump ahead to a new lesson. This lesson selection idea is wonderful!

All of the lessons are laid out the same way. You have the different categories to pick from on the left hand side and a sample of the lesson on the right. This kind of gives you an idea of what you are going to be doing.   Again, you can pick and choose where you want to start. Getting going in the lessons is a quick process...it seems that a lot is required right away and some students may not ease into it as others. I know my daughter needs ALOT of explaining and I found that wasn't always done with these lessons. BUT, for those of you whose children catch on quickly, this would be perfect for them.

One thing that I really like is the Reading Practice. The child first views a picture of something happening. In my collage above, the picture is of a cat playing with a rat. So, you first look at the picture. Then, you press the down arrow on the right hand side of the screen and it takes you to the next page in which you will begin to read the story about the picture. The best part is if your child has a hard time sounding out words, they can press the empty box under the words and actually HEAR the word being spoken. This was great for my daughter as this is how she learns...by seeing. (Yes, she is a visual learner just like her momma...lol!)

Another aspect of the lessons that I LOVE is the Phonics Blender. NOW, I will interject here that the narrator sounds terribly boring and monotone. The way he explains things is not very clear as well and he uses words that are "big" for my daughter to understand. My daughter is four and needs a bit more excitement to keep her interest peaked. If she feels bored, then we won't get very far. Sometimes, I think she found this app boring because of the way the instructions were being given. So, the reason I love the Phonics Blender is because it allows your child to drag letters down to the bottom of the screen so they can build and listen to their own words. The Phonics Blender does not limit them to actual words so they can make just about any word that they want, even if it isn't really a word.

The other part of the lessons that I really enjoyed was the Sight Word Drilling. What Hannah had to do was to listen to the narrator and pick the word that he says. When she presses the correct word, the train starts to move. Literally. The wheels start turning, smoke comes out of the smokestack and the whistle blows. This was really cool!

I think this was my daughter's favorite part of this app because it was active and "looked" fun. She is all about having fun when she is doing school and I can't say that I blame her. You can see that she did struggle a bit with it but I just think it is because she is still a bit young and in the early stages of reading.

Overall, I enjoyed the time we spent working on the Phonics and Reading With McGuffey app from LiteracySoft...it has so much to it that I think it is (and will continue to be) a wonderful asset to our homeschooling curriculum. It is intense and quite a bit of work and that is alot for Hannah to process right now at this point in time. However, I can see it being VERY helpful when she gets into reading more in the coming months. I would definitely recommend this app from LiteracySoft to any parent or person who is looking to improve their reading skills...it is a wonderful tool and would be a valuable asset to any homeschooler's curriculum library.

Dr. Craft's Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children Book Review

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your day and that you are getting outdoors to enjoy the beautiful weather! Today, I am going to take a few minutes to share my review of a fantastic book and resource for parents, educators, grandparents and caretakers called Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children from Dr. Craft's Active Play Books!

I have been a parent for 4 1/2 years and it never ceases to amaze me how much energy my children have. Being a parent has taught me patience, love, charity, gentleness, understanding and LOADS of creativity. Children (especially mine) can get bored very quickly and it doesn't take long for that boredom to create some mischievousness. This is why I am so thankful for curriculum that helps me to come up with creative and fun ways for them to expend their energy all while learning and having a great time!

Dr. Craft's Active Play Books is a book that is chock full of 52 activities that you can use to encourage your children to exercise...by using both their minds and their bodies. This book is written by Diane H. Craft, PhD and Craig L. Smith. Diane really took alot of time to research the material and factual data in this book before she presented it to parents. I particularly love how she raises awareness for childhood obesity...a dangerous trend that is becoming an epidemic in our society. Children who spend their days sitting in front of a TV, Computer and who spend little to no time getting physical activity in their daily routines are at risk to be obese. Scary! I for one always struggled with my weight so I can relate to the problem and know that it also has a lot to do with diet as well. In children though, obesity CAN be avoided in most cases simply by incorporating more physical activity.

For this review I was sent the Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children book (which retails for $39.00 and includes an accompanying DVD as well) and was very excited to get my children moving!  Before I show you how we used this book, let me show you a little bit more of what is actually in this book and why I love it.

First of all, in the back of the book I found that there is an entire daily schedule that gives you one activity per day to use with your children. Now, based on the ages of your children you can tweak this schedule to fit your personal needs but I love how the idea is here and I don't need to do much to make it my own. Using a pencil would do the trick on this one.

Secondly, I love how each activity has it's own dedicated page(s) and you are given careful instructions on how to guide your child through the activities. You are also told what supplies you will need and most of the supplies are ones you will find laying around your home. (Socks, laundry baskets, pantyhose, balls, Frisbees, etc.). There is also a picture of a child doing the activity so you can see what you are aiming to achieve with your child.

These two pages show some of the activities that we attempted to do here at our house and we had so much fun!! All Stop & Go Music is a fun game that is like musical chairs. You put several large objects in the center of the room. You can use pillows, pool noodles, laundry baskets, etc. Then, you tell your children that when the music starts they can run around the objects. When the music STOPS, they need to stop right in their tracks. For my children, I had them sit down on the floor when the music stopped because it created a bit more concentration for them. This game teaches them to listen for cues on when to start and stop, helps to strengthen and give their heart a bit of a workout and also teaches them to run...which my children do NOT need to be taught! HA!

Alligator Pit is a super fun game that we  played multiple times in different ways. The first way was suggested in the book and this is how we did it. First, I took duct tape and taped it to my living room rug. At one end I put a laundry basket and at the other end I put a bucket of various shaped balls. The way the book instructed me to do this game was to have the children carry the objects in their hands but to make it a bit more challenging for my four year old, I used a large spoon for her to carry the balls in. Here's a brief video of my children playing Alligator Pit using a pool noodle cut in half rather than the duct tape...which also works great!

So, the way this works is the child picks up a ball (or other small object that is easy to carry) and tries to walk on the duct tape all the way to the other end and deposits their object into the basket. Then, they turn around, walk back   and repeat the exercise until all the objects are in the laundry basket. You can at that point have them repeat the activity by taking the objects from the basket and walking them back down to original starting point. This activity was fun for both of my children and we have played it multiple times.

Next, we thoroughly enjoyed playing Bubble Wrap Jumping. My children literally go insane when they see bubble wrap and immediately confiscate it when any appears in my house. SO, I had to try this activity out with them. The video above shows just how fun this was to play. I adapted it because I didn't have large strips of bubble wrap so I used squares taped to the floor. As you can see, this was a LOUD and fun game...even after I walked away, I still heard bubbles popping. HA!

In this book there are so many other activities such as Sorting Socks, Swat The Fly (OOO!! So fun! Involves a picture of a fly taped to a Frisbee, a pool noodle and a child willing to run around pulling the Frisbee while another child tries to swat the Frisbee with his pool noodle!), Hoop Bus and Obstacle Course: Outdoor. Also included is a fun DVD that shows you how to do activities and gives you some fun music to go along with your games...which is great.

I am really looking forward to getting outside with the children once the weather gets nicer and doing more of these fun activities. My children are SO active and love anything fun so this was definitely a great book for us. I would definitely recommend Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children to anyone who has children or who takes care of children. It is a wonderful resource and one that you can use any time of the year!