AMDG+

Dear Parent;

Let's begin with your second question, concerning the reading program for your first grader. If she is just finishing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, she will probably need to begin with Level 2 of Little Stories for Little Folks, either this summer, or next fall.

If parents feel that their children are ready, children can begin the Little Stories for Little Folks program as early as age three, because the very first part of the program is teaching the alphabet and basic letter sounds. It then progresses to pre-reading exercises, and then on to phonics-based reading in the kindergarten years. [I emphasize here that it would be a rare child, indeed, who would be ready for the reading part of the program before kindergarten, however!]

Students who begin kindergarten with CHC lesson plans and the phonics-based Little Stories for Little Folks are generally reading at end of second grade level by the end of their 1st grade year. With this preparation, they are ready to progress to CHC's 2nd grade reading program, Devotional Stories for Little Folks. It sounds as if your daughter is doing well with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but that program does not advance to the same level as Little Stories for Little Folks, and hence will not adequately prepare her for CHC's 2nd grade reading program.

Therefore, you may wish either to have your daughter use Little Stories for Little Folks in her 2nd grade year, to prepare her for Devotional Stories for Little Folks in her 3rd grade year, or you may perhaps like to see if she can progress through Little Stories for Little Folks this summer, so that she might be ready for the 2nd grade reading program this fall. [Should she finish Little Stories for Little Folks by the end of her 2nd grade year, don't feel that she is behind the norm; she will still be reading at or above grade level in comparison to her age group.]

In regard to switching from one program to another with your third grader, you have my sympathies, as it is hard not to wonder if something was missed in the switch-over. Still, education proceeds in a spiral, with a fair amount of repetition over the years. [With CHC's approach, phonics instruction begins in kindergarten, with reinforcement in My Very First Catholic Speller.]

If your third grader is actually struggling with spelling, you might perhaps move back to the previous level speller and practice over the summer. On the other hand, if your third grader is reading well, has good decoding skills, and is spelling 80% or more of her spelling words correctly, she probably will do fine to proceed as is.

A few tips for practicing spelling:

• Using a dry-erase board and different color pens, have your daughter group spelling words with similar phonetic structure together by color. Have her break the words into syllables by clapping once for each syllable, then spell each word orally by syllable, without looking at the word. Post the board by her desk so she sees it frequently, but without pressure.
• Use different colored index cards for words with similar phonetic structure. Write the words on the cards and have her place them around her place at the table so she sees them at meal times. In a happy, light-hearted way, occasionally ask her to spell some of the words. If she is uncertain, she can spell them while looking at the words first, and then again with her eyes closed. [For easy table clean-up, the cards can be placed under a clear plastic tablecloth.] Praise.
• Have your daughter make up, and write out, funny sentences using the words that she missed on her spelling test. [See if she can make one sentence that includes all the missed words.]

Be sure to point out to your daughter that she is getting most of her words correctly, if that is the case!

May our good Jesus bless and guide your homeschool days,

Nancy Nicholson