Abeka Phonics K-2nd: What to Buy and What to Skip

We've officially got seven readers in our home. A quick mental calculation will tell you that this means all five of my children have now crossed the great divide between those who can't read and those who can. My youngest still needs my help with certain words, but as of this year, he possesses all the head-knowledge required to decode a word...any word.

In some ways, it feels like it took a lifetime for us to get here. But in other ways, it seems like it only took a blink. In reality, it took eleven years.

To break it down: I've spent the past eleven years teaching the letter names and sounds, the diagraphs, and the syllable rules. Long vowels and short ones. Blends and end rhymes. Regular sounds and special exceptions.

The BEST Emergent Readers for Phonics-Based Reading

Last week, when I confessed my opinions of those popular emergent readers that we all see gracing the shelves of the library and the bookstore, I think I hit a raw nerve with so many mommas. 

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Emergent Readers???!  

...we've all been asking ourselves while scratching our heads in confusion.  

NOPE.  

DIY Phonics Manipulatives with Duplo® Blocks

Got a Lego® lover at home like I do?  

A few years ago, while perusing an edition of Family Fun Magazine, I came upon an article about using Legos® or other building bricks to encourage creative writing.  The picture showed dozens of bricks with handwritten words on them.  These words were rearranged and stacked together to make silly sentences and short stories.  

Phonics Magnets

The extra FANTASTIC weather we've been having around these parts has forced me to whip out my best "jazz hands" throughout the school day in order to keep the attention of my Littles.  

For Super Boy, that means as many manipulatives as I can possibly cram into one lesson.  

When reviewing phonics blends/word building, magnetic letters (with or without a metal background to stick them on) offer a much-needed diversion.  

Over the years, I've picked up numerous sets at the dollar store and garage sales.  We use magnetic letters for all sorts of phonics, language, and spelling activities.  And as our collection is multi-colored, even Greased Lightening can use them in tot school to practice color sorting.

Flashcard Trail

Simple flashcard drills have always been a bit of a bore for my kinesthetic learner, Super Boy.  But as REVIEW is the "key to learning," I've had to come up with a few tricks to go over some basic core facts.  

This past week, he was able to take a trip on the flashcard trail.  Greased Lightening and I set out a "trail" of phonics blend cards.  Super Boy grabbed a toy with wheels...a boy on a skateboard, in this case...and began his "journey."

He started at the first card, read the blend, and then "drove" to the next card.