Favourite Websites and Learning to Readbeejayzgang | May 10th, 2008 @ 3:49 pm
If one has been a user of the internet for some time, you’ve likely discovered some favourite websites. I do have listed a few of my favourites on my sidebar, but I’m not limited to those ones only. I know that Overstock.com WOULD be a favourite….if they shipped to Canada. *sigh* ANYWAY….
I recently have “discovered” two great sites which I’m sure you’ve all heard about. I had heard about both sometime ago, but never bothered checking them out. Kijiji is a great FREE site for posting and perusing classifieds of all kinds. Freecycle is just that - recycling things you no longer want, but for free. We just picked up a dresser and a little cabinet for free! They aren’t amazing pieces of furniture, but we are a family of seven with a total of five clothes closets and three dressers between us. Can we say desperate? I’m usually a stickler for solid wood only. I really have developed quite a lot of animosity for all things that impersonate wood. So Greg was a bit surprised that I wanted this pressed-wood dresser. The boys need it, in their closet. So it doesn’t matter what it looks like. Needs help on one of the drawers and it will be fine. I wouldn’t likely have paid money for it, but for free? It will help solve some of the “floordrobe” problem we have right now. And eventually we’ll hopefully have not only more dressers and closets, but also bedrooms.
So, tell me some of your favourites….
For all my homeschooling friends, I need help with a learning to read program. I have used ACE (School of Tomorrow) with much success with Cole. It was quick and painless. Due to Cole’s learning style, I think ANY program would work. This program will not work for Luke. We’ve tried a bit. In fact, while Cole was going through it last year, Luke learned all of the songs that go along with each letter, and could say the corresponding animals, letters and sounds (ie: Ape reads a, A reads a). But he’s still struggling in the area of receptive language, and so even though he’s able to tell me the letter and sound, most of the rest of the lesson is over his head. He doesn’t get the stories, can’t answer the questions, and has difficulty identifying, in a word list, the words that contain that day’s letter/sound. I am a huge supporter of phonics-based reading, so I would prefer something like that, but realize that there definitely needs to be some degree of sight-reading as well. I have looked into several of the other main-stream curriculum publishers, but I need to actually have something in hand to really know what I’m working with. And I don’t want to order something from everyone just to figure out what will work. Luke is definitely a visual learner. He LOVES workbooks and pages and the like. He is always asking us about the content of signs, lables on bottles, titles on books, etc. Ideas anyone?
I hope Saturday is a good day for all.
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Andrea
said,
May 10, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Strafall.com , and it’s FREE.
you may also like http://www.learningpage.com/. Mostly free, and their teacher’s area is free on May 12.
Another very cheap option is the book “teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons”
Also, remember that it’s *okay* if he doesn’t read by a certain age. If he was 12, then I’d worry.
you may have to go outside your ACE training to find something more workable for him.
said,
May 10, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Thanks, Andrea! We actually have used starfall some. Hadn’t heard of the other. Have heard of the book, so I might look for it at the conference in a couple of weeks - do you know anyone specifically that carries it? I’m hoping one of the vendors there will.
At this point, I’m not at all worried about his age. He’ll be 7 in Aug., so “Grade 2″ chronologically, but I’m not freaking out about grade schedules for any of the kids. I actually think probably the biggest thing I’ve learned in these first three years of homeschooling is to not stress because they aren’t on track with where they’d be in “school.” But I definitely want to start working with him now, a bit at a time, as I realize that he may have a few more obstacles to overcome than the other kids.
I think that I’m actually also overcoming my ACE-itis…ha, ha! We have chosen to still use their English and Learning to Read/Word Building/Etymology. I know it well, am very comfortable with it, and find little fault. To find another curriculum for those subjects doesn’t make much sense as long as the kids are doing ok. Which Luke isn’t with the Word Building. Hence the searching…Don’t worry. I’m not going to School of Tomorrow my kids to death…lol!
Andrea
said,
May 10, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Homeschool and More have it - it’s where I got my copy.
Which I gave to someone who really, really needed it.
I keep forgettign if Luke is a bit older or younger than Emma. If it helps, she says she “can’t read” and she still have issues with some words, but she’s thisclose to fluent silent reading.
We only did 3-4 lessons out of the book. We mostly read her stories and read out everything she asks about (like you said you do above
)
I know you’ll have to get some creative apporches towards his reading, just to keep it at the forefront of his mind. Hmmm….
Maybel applestars has some stuff in her blog? I know there’s some *good* stuff here on visual learners. Go to the main page and use the google search bar, or check out the sitewide tags.
said,
May 12, 2008 at 9:09 am
Ok. Thanks again. I’m really looking forward to the conference. The last one I was at was the one you and I attended with Cole & Emma! It’s never worked for me to attend - last year I was in the hospital. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. When we make *our* plans they don’t usually include homeschooling a child with exceptions….good thing I’m not the one in control.