Tots on a Tuesday {Phonics vs Sight Reading}

I am super excited.

Yes, SUPER excited.

It truly doesn't take much, so don't you go getting too excited.

When I switched from using ACE as our main school curriculum, I had to decide which approach I wanted to take for teaching my subsequent children to read.  I researched it, and went with the same approach I was familiar with - phonics.  Albeit, the system I went with, Jolly Phonics, taught the phonics in a different order to what we had done previously, it still used phonics.  I was already having to face lots of new things, and staying with phonics seemed "safe".  I have loved Jolly Phonics, and I highly recommend it for British educators - it's relatively inexpensive, colourful, and BRITISH.  Yes, correct spelling, and MOSTLY correct pronunciation. (Why "mostly"?  It's ENGLISH..... Not Scottish..... )

However, I have been noticing that Abi seems to be learning some words by just reading them in her reading books, without sounding them out.  At the same time, I have noticed that Elijah has already taken a self-initiated interest in learning to write and read.  He seems to have a good memory for recognising letters, with very little instruction (he learnt to write his name from tracing it ONCE in a card... first of my children to do such a thing!). I got to wondering if he could learnt to read in a similar way.

If you are going to teach reading in this way, I *KNEW* that the Ladybird Key Words reading scheme was a tried and tested method.  They use "High Frequency" words, and the child learns to read based on those.  Did you know, 12 Key Words make up a 1/4 of those we read and write? 100 make up HALF of those we red and write, and around 300 words are 3/4 of what we read!!! Yes, that few words are the "Key words" of our reading experience.

This reading scheme involves introducing words to the child, in each book, and repeating them in various ways - switching the sentence structure around  a little, and adding in new words.  In book 1a, there are 16 new words, and they are repeated an average of 10 times each. In level  a and b there is progressively more complexity and variety in how these words are used, and book c focuses on writing, with activities for the child to copy out in an exercise book.


It's quite different to what I have used previously, but I am going to try doing it with Elijah and Abi together.  It will be great practice for "tricky words" used in Jolly Phonics, and a good "trial" to see how Elijah gets on.  I plan to also use the Reading Eggs apps, on the iPad, with Elijah, so he is concurrently learning all the letter names and sounds, for the words you can sound out phonetically.
This is a tried and tested reading scheme that has been on the go for YEARS! Decades, even!  I am hoping that means it could be successful for us, or at least be a great addition to our literacy lessons.

It's funny, it's taken me all these years to get more "adventurous" in how I do things!

You have to live a little, right?

And, I'm sure Elijah won't mind me using him as a guinea pig in a reading trial.....

I love that home educating allows the flexibility to find things that suit your individual child's needs.  And, which home educator doesn't need more books?? She says, having carefully researched, and purchased, a new bookcase for her home, only today....

So, how did you teach your children to read? What methods did you find to be successful, and which ones were  a flop?  Do you use the same for all of your children, or did you switch about, from child to child?  Please link up your posts about teaching children to read, or other literacy resources you find helpful.  If you don't blog, please share in the comments below! I love to her from my readers, and your experience may be just what someone else needs to hear, to encourage them.

IF you link up, please grab my "Tots on a Tuesday" button, from the side bar, and pop it in your post. Thank  you muchly.

"That's Amazin' {telling our children of God's greatness}

At the weekend, we were all in London, as Robert was preaching at a service there. Our journey brought us past Terminal 5, at Heathrow -  its newest terminal building.

It was night time, and it was all lit up.  It's a huge, glass building, and looks pretty awesome.

As we drove past, a little two-year old voice spoke up from the back, and said

"LOOK, Mum. That's AMAZIN'"

He was absolutely awed by this enormous, bright and shiny building.

You see, we live in a sleepy country village, and he doesn't see many building bigger than a manor house.  Rarely, we go to the big towns, but shopping centres are not quite like Terminal 5!

His new word (I've never heard him say "amazing" before!), and the gasps, and tone of voice that went with it, made me smile.

Then it made me think.

It made me think about God.

We, as the parents, know how wonderful God is.  We may have known Him, through our personal relationship with Jesus, for many years.

We know how wonderful, great, and amazing He is.

Sometimes, we can even lose the wonder, because we don't dwell upon that greatness as much as we ought to.

Our children, however, will not see how amazing God is, if we don't show Him to them.

If I keep Simeon at home, and never expose him to places like Terminal 5, he'll never have those amazing moments where he sees something new, and takes great joy in it.

Similarly, our children need us to tell them about our great God.

Of His love, grace, mercy, lovingkindness, and most importantly, His great salvation.


Look to God's Word, and see it for yourself.

"We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done."

Psalm 78:4

We need to tell them, so that THEY can see the wonderful of it, and how truly amazing it is.

They won't know, if we don't expose them to the amazing truth of God's Word, and how they can know it for themselves.

As those bright lights shone out, on a dark night, making a building look spectacular, if we share God's Word and ways, with our children, the wonder of it will shine out, like a light in the darkness, into their hearts.

We need to keep the wonder in our own hearts, so we will share it with our children.

Remember His wonderful acts toward us.

Remember His incredible attributes.

Remember His greatness.

Expose your children to the wonderful knowledge of God, and His ways. Then, watch as they learn of His greatness, in a personal way, in amazement.

Brighten the corner, where you are {Intentional illumination}

This week our home has been filled with teaching.

IT'S THE SUMMER!??!

Yes, it's the summer, but as I had mentioned before, there were things that I could see that needed some work.  The summer lends itself to working on such things, because the work that "gets in the way", the rest of the time, is paused.

You see, I realised that my children weren't going to make progress, without me being intentional in those areas. I had often heard women in "blogland", talking about being "intentional", but hadn't reallllly grasped what they were meaning.

Purposeful?

Focussed?

What I realised was that it was the opposite of accidental.  It's not something that happens by chance, but something you CHOOSE to do, with the intent of making a change or improvement.

It's been blessing my heart, to see the children making progress, but it's taken effort and focus from me.

It took ME to light the candle and shine it into the "corners" that were dark and dusty in our home.

Not literal darkness and dust - no, that's still there, in many a corner, and I have no great intentions to make that a priority when HEARTS need dusting - but in lives. Darkness caused by sin in the lives of this family that God has given me.  Failings and faults that need a light shone into them, so we can see where improvements need to be made.

It's so easy, isn't it, to look OUTWARD at the faults and failings - the dismal conditions and frightening news - in the world further afield.  We see the "outside world", and perhaps begin to think how we can work on that.  Don't get me wrong - reaching out to help others in need is GOOD.

But, how's the corner where YOU are?

MY corner?

My little, teeny, tiny, but OH so important corner?

My children are my mission field.  God has given them to me, and they need to be taught the gospel, and how God expects them to live.

 Their souls, first and foremost, need to feel the touch of God's quickening power.  It's my earnest plea for their hearts.  Without that, all the rest will only be good living.  Not a bad thing, but nothing without Christ.

Then, they also need to learn how to behave, in a way that is right and good.  That "training up a child", that is my responsibility as a parent.

For both, they need the light of the Word of God, shone brightly into their hearts.  It's our only guide - our only light - to shine and guide.  It's the source of brightness that is our delight, and DUTY, as a mother, to shine.

So, the work we have been doing this week has centred first upon God's Word.  What does the BIBLE teach about how we ought to live, and to treat each other? It's the spark that may set their hearts on fire for God.

It's just not going to happen  on its own.  Our hearts are inclined towards sin, and if I don't set out to INTENTIONALLY guide them and shine that light, it just ain't going to happen.

Missionaries do a sterling job, reaching the lost in far flung nations.

Preachers do a vital job, sharing God's Word with the groups of believers who gather together to serve the Lord.

Mothers, we do an embryonic work, shining that light in the "corners" of our homes, setting the spark in their lives - from before they are even born, as we pray for their souls, to the early moments of life when we talk to them of God and His greatness, into the growing years, when from dawn until dusk we can tell them of God and His Word, and why they need the Saviour most of all.   It's a vital work - nothing greater can we do, than speak words of Truth to the precious souls that God has placed into our life.

The words of a song, penned by a woman a century ago, carry the weight of what our light shining in our homes should be.

Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,

Do not wait to shed your light afar,

To the many duties ever near you now be true,

Brighten the corner where you are.

Brighten the corner where you are!

Brighten the corner where you are!

Someone far from harbour you may guide across the bar;

Brighten the corner where you are!

Just above are clouded skies that you may help to clear,

Let not narrow self your way debar;

Though into one heart alone may fall your song of cheer,

Brighten the corner where you are.

Here for all your talent you may surely find a need,

Here reflect the bright and Morning Star;

Even from your humble hand the Bread of Life may feed,

Brighten the corner where you are.

Our work is the first work in their hearts - that brightening the corner - before ever they hear of anything spiritual outside the home.

We do an important job - let's set out to intentionally illuminate the hearts and lives of our precious children!

Tots on a Tuesday {I-Spy jars, with a writing prompt idea thrown in for free..}

Today, I want to share with you something I made, as per the request of my lovely friend, Christine.

It's an "I-Spy" jar.

The principle behind it, is to have your children say what they can find in the jar. The jar is filled with rice, along with little objects, hidden inside.  I also dug out some glitter and added it in, because it made it more fun!  Crucially, you super-glue the lid on, so make sure everything you want is in there.

 No super-glue = mega-mess alert...

I had tremendous fun, picking up all the random odds and ends my children keep littering the floor with, and spiriting them away for using in my I-Spy jar! Seriously, I was like some kind of crazed woman, who, instead of finding things and thinking "that's going in the bin", thinking "ooooh, I could put that in the I-Spy jar"!! I collected so many that I have enough to make more than one jar. Except, well, I don't have another jar at the moment. I have, in the waiting, a one-legged Playmobil person, a tiny platypus from a Kinder egg, and a wooden seagull, along with other flotsam and jetsam!

I decided to theme the jar - this one is "colours".  I tried to put in something of each colour, for them to find.

Here's a few of the things I put in.

There are loads of ways you could use this. You could give clues "I spy with my little eye, something that's like a rabbit's tail".  That would be the white pom-pom in there. Or, "I spy with my little eye, something round, the same colour as a carrot".

I plan to make a little "tick chart" with all the items in there, listed, with a check box beside each one. I will print, and laminate, so they can use dry-erase markers on there. Then, it will help with motor skills, learning to tick them off the list.

You could do shapes, vehicles, numbers, animals - anything you can find in "mini" form, you can put in there! Little, laminated pictures, could also work, making it more of a challenge, because they would need to be facing the right way to see what's on them!

I also thought of a writing prompt idea, for older children. You could have a jar each with nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. The child shakes each jar, and the first word he finds in each one, is used as the basis for a story. Alternatively, you could have a jar each with places, people and objects, again, as a story writing prompt.  You could simplify it further for younger children, and have them use one or more of the jars as a sentence prompt. You could have a lot of fun making up silly sentences! I know, from experience, that, when it comes to writing, having a fun element can help inspire a child, no end!  For younger children, you could also have a jar for each of the word type categories, and they could add new words to them, as they think of them, so they are contributing to the sentence building.  If you do this, then you can't super-glue the lid, so you would have to make sure they don't take the lid off, or put it on wrong, or you could have one, big mega-mess!

If you have any other suggestions for an I-Spy jar, or something similar, please share them with us!

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Raising a godly generation - part 2

This time I continue with some more practical considerations that are important in training up our children for the Lord.  There is still at least one more (probably more!) post to come, with further suggestions.

4.  HAVE FAMILY WORSHIP/DEVOTIONS

The Bible teaches us, in Deuteronomy 6:6-7



"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

I recently read a blog post, where somebody took time to say that family devotions are not in the Bible, and you shouldn't feel you HAVE to have them.

True, we do not find any explicit details or instructions to sit down together as a family, to read the scriptures, sing, pray and discuss the Word of God.  However, in the above verses we find command to diligently teach our children God's ways.  As I have already mentioned, children do learn by our example, but that is not the same as TEACHING.  Teaching implies formality and time taken to convey vital information from one party to another.  Having family devotions is a perfect time to do this.  It's a time to learn together, with the father as the head of the home, teaching God's truths to his children.  Praising God together in song.  Thinking about the truths that have been taught, and applying them to the life of the family.

Currently, we are going through the book of Proverbs.  The children are loving how Robert is trying to give them object lessons to remember the truths.  Things that they will remember, and by God's grace, apply to their own lives.  In the evenings, we always sing and pray together, and Robert usually brings some truth to round off the day.  It's a more informal time, and we LOVE singing God's praises together!

If you don't already have a time in the day when you have family worship, then I would recommend that you do.  Speak to your husband about it.  Prayerfully consider what format you want to use, to fit your own family, but ultimately not forgetting that the key point of it is to teach God's Word to your children.

We are planning on using a new book soon - Clay Clarkson's "Our 24 Family Ways".

Read about it here.  He explains the reason why he produced the book, and about what it contains   

It looks really lovely - you can see sample pages here.  They now have the added bonus of colouring pages, that you can photocopy for your own family's use, that tie in with the 24 ways.

There are many resources you could use for a family devotion time.  We have, in the past, used the lovely book by Mariann Schoolland, "Leading Little Ones to God".

 It's a lovely book, going through major points of doctrine, in a way that is easy to understand for children.  You can see inside it, and view the contents here. For each part that it teaches, it has a a scripture portion, a memory verse, a song and then the teaching.  Lots of excellent content.  We will probably keep coming around to using it in a cycle, as it's nice to have some variety, but we want the younger ones to learn the doctrine, too!  I must confess, I bought mine before I even got married, or had children!  We had used it growing up, and knew I wanted to use it when I had children of my own! So, I was very forward thinking, and bought it when it was on sale!

You could also use a good daily devotional, such as the Spurgeon's "Morning and Evenings", which would lead to some excellent discussion.

If you want to use scripture as the backbone, but want thematic study, then the Daily Light is great.  It is simply a collection of texts, around a theme, for morning and evening use.

Make the time enjoyable - you want them to see that you have a love for God's Word, and that it is something precious and valuable in your life. Be enthusiastic as you sing praise to God.  Help them to understand what they are singing - there is no point singing empty words.

We sing a selection of choruses and hymns, that are favourites of the family.  We know a small selection of Psalm portions, but that is something I would like to work on a bit, too.

5. MEMORISE SCRIPTURE

Children have a brain like a sponge.  They have an enviable ability to memorise things, which an adult would sincerely wish that they were still able to so readily achieve!   Grab that opportunity while you can!  get them memorising scripture.  For little ones, choose short, key parts of verses.

 "The wages of sin is death",


 "God is love",


 "I am the way the truth and the life",  


"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth".

They could also combine it with learning their alphabet, and learn a verse for each letter of the alphabet!  Older children could learn whole passages - such as Psalm 23, or the 10 commandments.  Key verses about doctrine are also good to have memorised.  You could have a reward scheme, where they could perhaps have a Bible given to them upon completion, or some other suitable reward.

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. "

Psalm 119:11  

6. LISTEN TO GOOD MUSIC

Now, I know this is quite a subjective area.  I personally don't listen to Christian music that is too contemporary.  I feel that it is so close to the world's style of music, that it just doesn't sit well with me.

However, I have a couple of recommendations, for children, that I think would please most!

Firstly, there is a set of Albums called "Bible Songs for Kids".  You will find them at Bible Truth Music, and what's great is that they are downloadable!  So, no shipping costs involved!  They are a large selection (6 albums, so far) of KJV scripture in song.  Straight up and down Bible verses - no paraphrasing, or put into a meter, just songs composed to fit with the words.  They are really great, and it is also a super way of getting them to learn the Bible verses! The children pick them up very quickly.

Another one I got more recently, is "Hide em in your heart".  This is also scripture in song, but I think it is NKJV?  I haven't actually worked it out, but I base this on the fact that some of them are the same as KJV, and some are just a little different.  These are a little more"upbeat" in style, but not "rock" style by ANY means! You can download it on itunes, and also listen to samples there, to give you an idea of what it is like.   The other element of these that I like, is that they start with the recording artist (Steve Green), explaining a bit about the verse, and what children need to learn from it, before a child quotes the reference, and it is then sung.  My children certainly love it, as a lot of it is very fun!  It covers such verses as Psalm 34:13 (about lying), Romans 12:21 (overcome evil with good), Philippians 4:13 (do all things without arguing and complaining) - so lots of very appropriate teaching!


Please share your experiences and suggestions in these areas, as there are so many resources available out there, that it's a blessing to share them with others when YOU find them!

Link up below!