This blog is my attempt to document our busy but BLESSED lives raising and educating our children for His glory. A child of God, wife to one, and mom to 6 fabulous kids. We are in our 16th year of homeschooling using a Classical ~ Literature based approach.

Come along for the good, the bad & the ugly.



Thursday, April 16, 2015

First Start Reading by Memoria Press ~ a TOS review

The thought of teaching my children to read used to make me tremble with fear? I know that’s probably silly to say out loud, but it is how I felt when we embarked on this homeschooling journey six years ago. I have since taught two children how to read and McKenzie, my 5 year old JrK’er, is the next in line to become a reader with the help of First Start Reading from Memoria Press.

20150302_165507

McKenzie is a very eager learner, always has been since she was a little toddler. She was having trouble remembering her letter sounds and letter recognition so I held off on teaching her to read. When this program was offered for review, I jumped at the chance because of past success with Montana.

20150302_16563420150302_165558 

The First Start Reading Program takes on a classical, traditional approach to teaching phonics. We received the Teacher’s Guide and 4 Student books, A, B, C, & D. The program focuses on three important skills throughout the phonics program which include:

1.pencil grip & correct manuscript letter formation

2. mastering the sounds for consonants and vowels

3. mastering short and long vowel sounds, short 3-letter words and 45 common “sight” words

The Teacher’s Guide provides scripted lessons and everything you need as the teacher to successfully teach your child to read. It is a great resource for helping with vowel sounds, ear training, b-d confusion, and pencil grip.

20150416_091842 

Scripted lessons make teaching the classical phonics program so easy. You don’t have to worry about what to say or what to write because it is all there right for you. In the beginning it is a bit repetitive, but McKenzie did not seem to mind.

20150319_095952

An important part of the daily learning is the phonics recitation. It includes 10 questions to ask your child each morning before beginning your lesson. Sample questions include asking “How many letters are there” and to “Name the vowels”. McKenzie and I went over this recitation in addition to our normal recitations each and every day.

20150416_104150

Each lesson covers the following categories:
~ Letter sounds
~ CVC Words (Common Word, which include sight words)
~ Reading skills such as beginning punctuation and plural sounds
~ Beginning Sentences

  20150317_104957

{car schooling while waiting for big sisters at Girl Scouts}

McKenzie was so excited to get her mail. We began using the phonics program the day after it arrived! Because I had previously used this program with Montana, I also already had the supplemental Classical Phonics which is a handy little book for extra phonics practice. Since we are such huge fans of morning time recitations and Memoria Press I also already had the Kindergarten Complete Lesson Plans for One Year {First edition, 2009} in my possession. Inside this lesson plan book, the First Start Reading student books A-C are scheduled out for daily work over 27 weeks. I am confident that by the time we get to book D, I will be able to schedule out that book on my own. If not, I know I can upgrade my scheduled out plans.

20150416_104253

Currently, McKenzie and I are on day 1 of Week 6 according to the plans. Since we got a late start, we just take one day at a time and don’t really pay attention to the weeks. We start out our days by completing the phonics recitation. At first she was not too keen on doing these questions, especially reciting the alphabet while pointing to each letter. However, it has helped her letter recognition tremendously! Before she would do the normal LMNOP, instead of separating them as individual letters. Once I had her slow down and point to each letter within 2 weeks she had it straight and I could say point to letter “N” and she would know it.

20150319_095952a

For the vowel’s I choose to highlight them in the back of her student book. McKenzie is a visual learner and seeing the vowels highlighted pink helped her know that those were the “special” letters that make their own special sounds.

20150319_101332 {pencil check}

I am so excited to continue to use this program to completion with McKenzie and eventually with little Micah. It just works and now my little girl can READ! Something she has wanted to do for so long.

 20150304_134657

I will sing praises to Memoria Press to all who will listen!  We LOVE this program and I have been recommending and sharing it with friends for the past few weeks whether or not they homeschool! 

20150305_093954

{I can read!!!} 

***click HERE to hear McKenzie reading ***

Memoria Press offers a wide assortment of homeschool material from Latin, Greek, Literature, to whole grade level sets from Junior Kindergarten through eighth grade. They graciously offered some members of the Crew to review their New American Cursive:  Penmanship Program Workbook 1 while others received the Classical Phonics program.  Check out what my Crewmates thought about these programs by clicking the banner below.

Memoria Press Review

 Company ~ Memoria Press

Product ~ First Start Reading

Price ~ $42.95

Ages ~ K – 2nd or for struggling readers

Memoria Press Review

*Stayed tuned for the beginning of June when we review Latina Christiana I Complete Set .

Facebook

  Twitter

  Pinterest

  Google+

 Instagram

Crew Disclaimer

©2008- 2015 A Stable Beginning. All rights reserved. All photographs, text, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the author. http://astablebeginning.com

blog comments powered by Disqus