The Writing Road to Reading (Phonics and Spelling)

The Writing Road to Reading is a comprehensive resource for teaching phonics, spelling, reading and writing, and as such it can be quite daunting to tackle for a first time homeschooler.  It has taken me several readings over a number of years to come up with a method for implementing this program in my home school.  I will break it down for you here:

1.  Make phonogram cards according to the directions on pages 213-221.  The phonogram goes on one side and the other side gives the sounds.  So for example in making the first card, on one side is written "a" and on the other is written "a - at / a - na vy / ah - fa ther."

Teach the phonograms according to pages 19-26 and do oral and written reviews according to pages 39-41.

You can make up handwriting pages for phonogram practice or you can use the ones found on a-z-worksheets.com.

2.  Teach about syllables, first giving a general explanation and clapping out the syllables for common words, then using the generalizations found on pages 226-227 as multisyllable words come up on the lists.

3.  Once phonograms 1-45 have been mastered, and you have taught about syllables, begin teaching the Ayers list words starting with list A-G which begins on page 254.  I made up spelling lists on www.spellingcity.com which progressively move through the Ayers word list.  Spelling city will generate handwriting pages and a handful of other activities with your list for free.  You can email me and I will add you on as a "student" so you can access the lists. 

3.  Make magnetic phonogram tiles like the ones found here.  On the day you introduce a spelling list for the first time, use the phonogram tiles to spell out the words.  You can do it on a cookie sheet, the refrigerator, a magnetic dry erase board, or if you have a magnetic one like I do, your front door!

4.  Rules 1-4 (found on pages 223-225) should be introduced as you teach the first 45 phonograms.  Then introduce the remaining rules  as they come up on the lists.  The rule numbers are written next to the words on the Ayers list.  Make up a handwriting page for each rule and give them to the child to write out.  There is no way to save the worksheets on www.handwritingworksheets.com , so I print out two and put one into a binder as a "master copy" for future use.

For young children, just review the rules orally.  You can write or print out the rules pages found beginning on page 237 of the book to use as a visual aid.  

5.  After your child has learned the words and done the activities over a few days, give the spelling test and move on to the next list.  I  typically do the teaching and activities on Monday-Thursday and the spelling test on Friday. 

The Writing Road to Reading also has a great section on children's literature recommendations according to grade level found on pages 206-211.  You should be able to find these books or at least most of them at your local library.

This can be used as a standalone program for teaching reading.  Once the child has mastered the first 45 phonograms, you can start with the  Little Angel Readers Book A or another primer of your choice.

Reading Part One

I have mentioned the Catholic National Readers as our choice for reading practice.  The first book is the "Primer and Book One," and is fine to work from on its own, but it is challenging.  I like the Little Angel Readers Book A as a pre-primer.  You can make up worksheets to practice the letters and words as they come up in the book using www.handwritingworksheets.com .  There is no way to save your worksheets on this website, so print two and put one into a binder as a "master copy" for future use.
 
If your little one does not yet know the alphabet, www.catholicicing.com has a wonderful FREE catholic ABC's program with printable crafts for every letter of the alphabet.  They also have a reproducible book containing the entire program with additional content available for $35.  It is a great deal considering you can use it for child after child. 

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a great, tried and true choice for teaching reading, and at around $20 new, it is a great value.  Donna Young has free worksheets to correspond with each of the lessons.

The Writing Road to Reading is another great resource for teaching reading which I explain in detail in another post.

Catholic Books

The local public library is good for a lot of things, but  it is not usually a good source for Catholic books.  Fortunately, quality Catholic books can be found online through various used book sellers.  I like to use hardback books whenever possible so that they will last year after year.

For reading practice, we use the Catholic National Readers .  These are old readers similar to the McGuffey Readers which are popular among homeschoolers.  Kolbe Academy and Our Lady of Victory School use these readers in their curriculum.  The antiquated language causes children to pay close attention to the words (great when children first start reading to prevent them guessing at the words) and the stories are charming.  An example of the language used is this sentence from the Catholic National Readers Primer, "Has Ann a fan?"  instead of "Does Ann have a fan?" Kolbe Academy sells guides for the Catholic National Readers.

Our Lady of Victory School  is the publisher of Catholic National Readers as well as many other old Catholic school books.  Their Voyages in English is a popular choice for grammar and composition.  I try to get these books used through websites like Abebooks and Alibris or from cathswap, a yahoo group for buying and selling used Catholic homeschooling curriculum.

Religious Studies

First things first! In order to keep my homeschool Catholic, I need to integrate Catholicism into our daily activities.  For formal religious studies I look primarily to these areas:

1. Regular prayer times.  We aim to say at least a Morning Offering together before we begin, the Angelus at noon and prayers before meals.  Our evening prayers vary with our seasons; a nightly Rosary is ideal, but if we can't do that, we try to say all of our basic prayers before bed time.
2. Familiarize the children with the Saints and the Bible using good children's books. 
3. Teach the catechism.  The Baltimore Catechism is an old standby which is well suited to homeschooling and is widely available and inexpensive.  Catechism study can be easily incorporated into handwriting or copy work practice. 
4. Celebrate the Liturgical Year.  www.catholicculture.org is an excellent online resource for this.  They have a daily liturgical calendar available complete with prayers, readings, activities, recipes and songs for the various feast days.  

Beyond the formal religious studies,  I use good catholic books wherever possible and will make up our handwriting worksheets using prayers, catechism, Bible quotes and other Catholic-inspired passages.

Publish Post

An Initial Investment

I am going to start printing out my own worksheets and putting them into binders for the children, and so I will need a printer that gives me a low cost per page.   The Robinson Curriculum website has a page devoted to economical printer recommendations and what it boils down to is that it should be a duplexing, black and white laser printer.  They recommend the Brother HL-5370 DW. 

The Robinson Curriculum is a good and economical choice for homeschooling, but it is not for me.  I do like many aspects of the program, especially the idea that serious study of science should wait until after the student has mastered mathematics through Calculus.  Dr. Robinson is a university professor of science and his ideas on education are very thought provoking.  There is a yahoo group for Catholic users of the Robinson Curriculum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOCatholicRobinson/

Welcome!

I have been homeschooling since my almost 13 year old daughter began Kindergarden, before my "reversion" to the Catholic faith.  I had three girls at the time and I quickly found that workbooks were the key to consistency for me.  After years of researching, I had so many aspirations for beautifully planned out lesson plans that thoroughly integrate subjects and leave my children drenched in knowledge.  Well, that just didn't happen, and so I turned to workbooks- boring, I know, but I loved being able to just "open and go"  and my children loved them.    I found that covering basic skills with workbooks kept my kids on track with essential skills and still left time for them to explore learning on their own.

About three years after I began my homeschooling journey, I came home to the Catholic Church and not long afterward, my husband and I decided that we would leave the planning of our family size up to God.  So homeschooling three became homeschooling seven (or more, God willing) and it became plain to see that my workbook addiction was going to break the bank.

So here I am, exploring ways to educate my large family on a small budget. 

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