Early Learners
How to Create Independent Learners
Creating independent learners takes time, encouragement, and hard work. But, as our children grow they need to be able to work and learn independently. Independent learning is an important skill and one that will benefit them for a lifetime.
As homeschool parents, we are responsible for our children’s education. We take on that responsibility oftentimes when our children are young. By the time they reach middle school we are educating younger siblings and may be getting overwhelmed with the responsibility of educating so many different grades.
At this point, it may be time to start easing our children into independent learning. This is an important thing for our children to learn. Independent learning can help them learn responsibility, prepare them for college, and helps them truly engage in the material.
Fun and Easy Ways to Teach Literacy Skills
Your child may not learn to read till they are around age 5, but your child is learning from the time they are born. The foundation of good literacy skills is started while the child is still young. Early literacy skills are things like communication, recognition of letters, numbers and words (not reading, but recognizing), storytelling, being able to narrate what was said, or read, learning to rhyme, and recognize sounds.
Phonics and Reading Programs for Early Learners
Last week we discussed some tips on how parents can teach their children to read. Today we are going to discuss some of the top phonics and reading programs for early learners.
Hooked on Phonics
I have used Hooked on Phonics to teach five children to read. I absolutely LOVE this program, and cannot say enough good things about it. Hooked on Phonics teaches children to read using the phonics program. Children start with short vowel words (-at, -an, -ap) and then move on to short i, short u, and then long vowel sounds. Every 3-4 lessons the child gets a review lesson where they also learn sight words like where, like, who, there, etc. At the end of this lesson they also get a REAL book to read. My kids were always so excited to get these books. They packed them around and read them to everyone that would listen. Hooked on Phonics is a fantastic program for teaching children to read!
Great Learning Sites for Preschoolers
Online learning is becoming more and more popular, and our children are growing up in a tech-savvy world. Preschool is a great age to start allowing our children supervised learning online.
Here are some great learning sites for preschoolers:
ABC MOUSE– This learning website helps kids learn to read through phonics lessons. It also teaches young children lessons in math, music, art, social studies and much more! There is a subscription fee with this program.
Teaching the Alphabet -WITHOUT a Curriculum!
One of the first things a child learns in preschool is the alphabet. We have all sang the ABC’s with a young preschooler, and most of us have practiced letter sounds. Teaching the alphabet to our children can be a lot of fun, and it doesn’t require a curriculum!
Book Your Room Online!
