The Ladder is a game used to help solidify reading skills for children. The key is to find a popular word ending that can have many different beginnings. For example, -at is a short vowel word ending that can have many different letter beginnings. You can make many different words ending in –at including cat, mat, rat, sat, scat, brat, hat, and so on. The Ladder helps your child visualize this by laying the words out in an organized fashion.

1) If you have a movable alphabet, lay out a small rug or piece of felt and use the movable alphabet to build each of these words. At the top of the rug/felt place the ending of the word (in our case this is –at).

2) Along the length of the rug/felt place five or six –at endings with enough space in front of them to add beginning consonants to make whole words.

3) Now ask your child to get involved. Using the movable alphabet, hold a ‘b’ up to the first empty space next to the –at word ending. Ask them “Does this make a word?” Then sound out the word: “b-a-t”. “Yes, this makes the word ‘bat’!” Now try it with the letter ‘c’ at the next empty –at word ending.

4) Keep making words in this fashion until the entire Ladder is filled with words. Have your child write the words down and save the word list to be included in a book of Ladder word lists later on.

*Note: if you don’t have a movable alphabet, the Ladder can be played by drawing it out on a dry-erase board and simply writing in the words as you go.

As you can see, this game can take you through short vowel words all the way through long vowel words and even blends!

Here’s a fun game you can play with your children when practicing reading books starts to get old:

1) Tell your kids you’re going to try something different while you’re reading together today. Have a spare piece of paper and explain that you are going to make a word list while he or she reads the book. Make the list based on the predominate phonics word pattern that’s being featured in the book. For example: in a book called “Jake’s Cake” you’ll be finding a lot of words with a silent ‘e’ which makes the ‘a’ in the word have a long sound.

2) As your child reads the book, make a list of words that fit the phonics criteria that you’ve chosen.

3) When your child finishes the book, go through the list of words you’ve made you’re your child and see if they understand the phonics pattern.

4) Next, choose a similar book and tell them it’s their turn to write the list. Go through the list together and make any corrections if need be. Once this game becomes too easy, have your child make more than one list with each list having a different phonics pattern.

I know it’s one of the coolest moments a proud parent can have when their child is able to sing the alphabet on command! However, if you are following a phonics curriculum make sure you teach them the standard alphabet song after they’ve learned the beginning short vowel sounds of a, e, i, o, and u along with the short sounds of all the consonants. Once they know these, its okay to move them on to the long vowel sounds and letter names for the consonants.

If you must have your child know an alphabet song before they reach the long vowels in their reading development, teach them a phonics version such as this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWEiZ0IXOj8

Otherwise, wait it out and let them learn the traditional alphabet song a little ways down the road Just remember, it’s all about staying consistent with the lessons you’re teaching your child. You don’t want to confuse them by teaching them one thing and then hopping ahead to concepts they haven’t been introduced to yet. Comments? Questions? Write them below…

The argument against homeschooling usually lies in the belief that children will lack social skills as a result of not being around children their age consistently or that they can’t receive as good of an education with parents being their teachers instead of trained educators. I can understand the idea that children can end up lacking social skills by only interacting with adults (namely their parents), but one thing to consider is all the options parents have to still immerse their children in social activities while educating them at home. Extra curricular activities are practical options for getting children involved in activities with other kids all while learning valuable skills. Think: sports, the arts, 4H, church youth groups, etc. Most public schools are open to allowing homeschoolers to take certain classes through their curriculum as well, so when those driver’s education days roll around you don’t have to have that scary job   Your kids could also attend prom in most cases depending on the school district’s rules.

As far as parents not being adequate educators, I can understand that train of thought as well. After all, how can someone who hasn’t been trained to educate children know how to make lesson plans and keep their children up to date with learning standards for their age range? 20 or 30 years ago I wouldn’t be shocked if certain children who were homeschooled didn’t have consistent learning goals and ended up with a sub-par education. The good news is in today’s world there are so many support groups and teacher’s associations out there that parents have no excuse not to find all the tools they need to give their children a stellar at home education. For that matter in many states it’s now necessary for parents to take training courses on how to teach effectively and/or have a full fledged teacher’s license or they are not allowed to be home educators for their children. Thankfully with the resources the internet provides it is possible to learn how to be a great teacher for your children whether you are their after school tutor or their main educator.

So now that you’ve heard the arguments, where does your opinion lie?

If you want a hot topic for discussion you should bring up homeschooling in America. For most people the issue is black and white: A) Homeschooling is highly beneficial for most children because parents can adjust the speed at which their child’s curriculum progresses (i.e. if their child is in 2^nd grade but has a 7^th grade reading level, they can give them lessons to support that and not have to hold them at a certain speed because of lesson plans)  or B) Homeschooling is detrimental to children because they’ll develop a lack of social skills and won’t get as good of an education through parents rather than trained educators. Let’s talk about argument A for this blog post…

Homeschooling has been a viable option for education in America for a long time. Many people decided to homeschool their children in the past based on religious reasons, but now homeschooling is becoming more and more about improving the quality of education children will receive, safety, and convenience.  Public schools have been struggling for a while in terms of being able to serve large numbers of children on various learning levels who learn differently from one another. Some kids excel in the social environment and are able to keep on pace with lesson plans and learning in a mainly auditory based system. Other children slip through the cracks because either they are bored to tears and aren’t challenged academically or they become victims socially through many forms of bullying. Safety in schools is another issue parents are leery about. The rise of school shootings and drug sales amongst students is enough to help parents consider how much safer it would be to have their child at home rather than in an area that may turn out to be a ticking time bomb. Also, the convenience of homeschooling plays a major factor in its popularity. Families that move around a lot (such as military families) can save their children a lot of strife by homeschooling them. In addition, certain families that own home-based businesses may feel their children would benefit from going to school at home, while also learning the family trade at the same time.

“According to a report by the U.S. Department of Education, about one and a half million students were homeschooled in 2007, an increase of about a half million students from four years ago.” (http://news10now.com/content/all_news/473821/homeschooling-on-the-rise/) . Huh, definitely something to think about, right?

Sight words are something we covered in an earlier post, but something we should revisit. We established that sight words (aka Dolch words) are words that have to be taught to be recognized by sight and can’t be phonetically sounded out. Because sight words don’t fit the rules of phonics, they must be taught by rote memory through a variety of methods such as games, flash cards, and practice through reading books. There is discussion, however, as to which words should be considered sight words and which words can actually be phonetically sounded out. The Dolch word list outlines 220 words that should be memorized by children for speedier reading skills. Some of these words, some argue, can be ‘sounded-out’ though and should not be considered sight words by definition.

Some of the words up for debate include:

AND

IT

IN

IS

Others say the definition of a sight word has nothing to do with whether they can be sounded out; rather it has to do with the frequency they are seen in written works or their “commonality”.

Where does your opinion lie with the sight word debate?

Once your child has a firm grasp of what makes up a story- introduction, main theme/story, and ending- have them begin to write short stories of their own. When you’ve taught them the word drop game that I discussed in a recent post, they’re going to learn how to write a proper sentence. The only thing you have left to introduce to them to is how to group together sentences to make a story. This begins early when you read them their bedtime stories! It doesn’t take long for kids to recognize the sequence of characters being introduced, the characters having some adventure or solving a problem, and the resolution and end of the story.

Encourage your child to draw a picture and then tell you a story about it. Once they’ve done this, you can suggest that they write the story down. Give them lots of help the first few times they do this exercise and then let them fly free!  Be sure to provide them with large pieces of paper that have a space on the top for their drawing and then pre-printed lines for them to write their story on. You can find sheets like this at any teachers supply stores or anywhere office supplies are sold.

The more ways you introduce your child to language, the better they will be able to grasp an understanding of the spoken and written word and how language works as a whole. This is why from birth it is so important to talk to your child, ask them questions, answer their questions and really develop their speaking skills in the process. I know it’s easy to get bogged down with day to day responsibilities, but remember that your child is a sponge wanting to soak up all the information around them. Don’t let the TV become a replacement for real interaction.

Here are some things all parents should do with their kids to immerse them in language early on and subsequently help them academically before they even make it to preschool:

Read books and encourage them asking questions and predicting the course of the story, sing songs, teach them rhymes, play interactive games like “I spy” and “Memory”, start to teach them letters and sounds, point out signs when your out driving to introduce word association, and so on…

Any other suggestions out there? Please drop a line in the comments!

Here are the rules for word drop:

1)      Make up a simple sentence based on your child’s reading level. For example, if they are anchoring their short vowel skills a sentence like “The cat is on the mat” would be appropriate. If they’re practicing long vowels “The hive is on the tree” works fine, etc.

2)      Draw empty dashes for the words to be written on, much like you do for the game ‘hangman’.

3)      Above the empty dashes draw a box and put all the words of the sentence in it written at random.

4)      Explain to your child that you made a mystery sentence for them and you want them to figure out what is says. Show them the box of words and explain that the sentence contains all of those words. Show them the dashes and explain that that is where they write the words in the order of the sentence. Do the first sentence with them so that they understand how to put together a proper sentence and then create another one for them to try on their own.

5)      Keep the sentences simple and encourage them along the way! Help them create problem solving strategies and logic by asking questions. For example, if you had used the sentence ‘The hive is on the tree’ and they got tripped up, you could ask “what makes more sense ‘The tree is on the hive’ or ‘The hive is on the tree’?”  Also, don’t forget to capitalize the first letter of the sentence and put appropriate punctuation at the end and make sure that they do the same in their answer

6)      When they get really good at the game encourage them to draw the accompanying picture with it and—you guessed it—make a book out the pages when they make 10 or more sheets.

Now, you guys are probably wondering right now when is the best time to teach your child how to write their name… Most names are not phonetic, but that doesn’t mean you need to wait later in your child’s reading development to teach them how to spell and write their name. In fact, you should do this early on as a confidence booster and a great introduction into proper writing skills. There are many resources you can find on the web or in teacher’s supply stores that contain writing hand-outs where you can copy letter worksheets and have your child practice them to learn and/or reinforce their skills. Just make sure that the style of writing you teach your children is the same as what they are learning in school. Most schools teach denelian style letters, but be sure to check with your child’s teacher first.

Have them complete the entire alphabet over time and don’t be afraid to have them do it over and over again in order for them to learn really learn how to properly write letters. In today’s world with computers and text messaging dominating the written word, good handwriting is becoming a thing of the past. So while it’s important that your child have good computer skills, it’s also important that you give them a solid foundation for their handwriting skills. So make it easy and start with name writing! Once they learn how to write their name on their own you can have them write it on the cover of all their phonics books that they compile their word lists intoJ Before you know it, they’ll want to write their name at every given opportunity!